Torchwick's Little Rose
by Australian Dealer
Summary: Roman Torchwick didn't exactly expect to find a dead woman's body, and he certainly didn't expect to find a little 3 year old Ruby Rose with it. So, being the man he was, Roman takes the girl as his own seeing how she's an orphan now in the streets of Vale. What happens from this, no one could ever had predicted.
1. Introduction

_**Author's Note: Hey, so this is my first fanfiction, Torchwick's Little Rose, which despite the name, is not a Roman X Ruby story but rather Torchwick adopted Ruby as his own daughter. As such, Ruby will be mostly the same as she is in the actual show, except for a few facts and quirks, such as why she wants to go to Beacon, how she gets in early etc. This story also won't be changing anything in the way of teams; RWBY is the team that is formed and other teams like JNPR will still be the same but there will be reason to explain some things. Helpful advice and Criticism is appreciated, and hate will be used for marshmallows. I'd also like to point out that this is my original idea and so if it happens to be similar to another person's story, I didn't know about it and thus was an accident.**_  
 _ **Be warned, This story does contain violence, offensive language, death and other mature themes. DO NOT READ IF YOUR SENSITIVE TO THESE THEMES. You have been warned now on with the show.**_

 _"Summer Rose didn't know what she was thinking at the time. Why did she think it would be a good idea to bring her youngest daughter with her this time, she was only 3 years old! These were the thoughts going through Summer's head as she desperately ran down the narrow alleyways of Vale late at night, chased by two men. One was a large, almost brutish looking man with dark hair and a very muscular body, the other a faunus with a scorpion tail and long black hair. She didn't know why they were chasing her as they followed her down an alley next to a small appliance store. As Summer turned around a corner, she continued to run as fast as she could in her tired and injured_ _state._

Summer had just arrived back in Vale after tracking down some Grimm south of Vale for some money so that she and Tai could afford to get some clothes and toys for her youngest, Ruby. She had taken Ruby and some money that they had so she could kill two birds with one stone and get anything they needed in Vale after she'd killed the Grimm. Everything had gone fine and Summer tracked them down and killed them easily enough before returning to Vale to collect the bounty for the Beowolf pack. After arriving via Bullhead later that night, a tall, muscular man asked Summer to follow him, claiming he was sent by Ozpin. Ozpin was a dear friend to her and Tai, with him being their headmaster at Beacon so it wasn't uncommon for him to occasionally ask to meet with them.

The man led Summer to the small bookstore that she and Oz liked to meet at, however when they got there, no one had been there and when she turned to ask where Ozpin was, she was backhanded across the room by the man. Crashing into the counter, she had barely managed to draw her weapon, a long sword with a gun made into the hilt, before a faunus appeared with bladed gauntlets. Blocking the blades, she swiped at him, trying to make room so that she could assess the situation...when she realised that the small, handheld basket she used to carry Ruby was missing. She gasped suddenly when she saw it across the room being held by the large man, looking down at the child inside it.

"Hmm, is this your child silver eyes?" the man said in a deep, low voice. Summer could only nod at his question, her voice failing her as she prayed to Oum that he wouldn't try and hurt her little Ruby. The faunus, standing left of her suddenly let out a crazed laugh before saying, "Well well isn't this unexpected! The goddess sends us to kill the woman with silver eyes and we find her with her kiddie too!" It seems that the brutish man doesn't seem too pleased about his compatriot's obvious pleasure in the situation. "Please, just don't hurt my daughter!" Summer says to the man desperately. Before he can reply, the mad faunus leaps at her, swinging his weapons at her so suddenly she doesn't have time to fully brace her Aura against it and screams as the blades bite into her upper right thigh. Summer quickly swings her sword at the his arms, which move back just in time for him to block her swipe with his gauntlets.

Summer engages him in combat, swiping her sword at him with the speed of a leopard in a series of complex sword techniques as she tried to get closer to her daughter, which the man had taking out of the basket and left sitting on a bench as he too moved forward to engage her. Turning to face this new threat, she kicks at the faunus and swings her sword diagonally at the brutish man, who somehow manages to block her with his bare arms. Summer starts to swing her sword in such a way that she can fire her gun at them as well and use its momentum to land harder hits and move her sword-arm faster while also using her legs and heavy boots as weapons too.

Hazel starts to punch at the silver eyed warrior in a boxing stance while Tyrian continues to do that mad and seemingly random method of how he swings his weapons in almost a dancing way. The woman is quite the challenge as she manages to keep both of them at bay without taking much in the way of a hit, but it was obvious that she was tiring as her strokes with her sword slowed and her kicks had less power behind them. It was clear she had already been tired when she arrived and having to fight two Huntsmen level opponents simultaneously didn't help her case. Soon the tide turns against her, which allows to the two servants of darkness to landing more hits on her, weakening her Aura quickly.

Summer knew that she was low on Aura, dangerously low, and realised that she had no chance of besting the two of them in her current condition. With no other choice, she manages to make grab Ruby and swipes her sword wildly, so she can make some distance between her and her assailants. They move back as to avoid her random swings and the second they stop directly attacking her, she grabs Ruby and uses her semblance, which allows her to throw objects which explode in blinding light. With the only things she has at her disposal being her sword and her daughter, Summer throws her sword at the men who, not expecting her to give up her weapon, try and move out of its way when it explodes, blinding them momentarily. Using this opportunity, Summer sprints past them and out the door as fast as she can.

 _Summer continued to run as long and far as she can past the appliance store, trying escape her attackers and keep Ruby safe. She jumps a fence and runs into a small, out of the way alley behind a newer looking nightclub. As soon as she turns into this alley however, she sees something come out of the darkness and stab her in the shoulder and break through what remains of her Aura. She screams and collapses in pain. When she looks up, all she can see is the crazed grin of the scorpion faunus looking down at her. "Hahahahaahha you have put on quite the chase dearie now, do us a favour and die please." She realises that without medical attention, all the wounds she has suffered will cause her to bleed to death in this forsaken alleyway. The faunus looks down at the dying woman before grabbing Ruby from her arms, unable to stop him. "Now what should I do with YOU? Hmm... what do you think mummy dearest? Kill the little tyke in front of your very eyes? Or maybe I should poison it and let it die from that with you, hahahahahaa" The faunus cackles like a mad hatter as he contemplates on how to kill the child. Summer cries quietly as she watches the mad man put his gauntlet to the infant's throat and whisper quietly to the too crying child "Nighty Night". Summer looks away when she hears a deep voice say "Tyrian..."._

 _She looks and sees that the large man arrived and has grabbed the faunus "Tyrian" by the shoulder. "She told us only to kill the woman, leave the child alone." "Aw but the little kiddie has silver eyes too, the Goddess would want her dead too, you know that Hazel." Hazel sighs "Leave the child here, it will either die to the cold or hunger before anyone finds it." Tyrian moans before putting Ruby back in Summer's arms and says "Fine then, but if you ever keep me from killing someone again I'...". Summer fails to hear the rest of what is said as the two men walk away. She manages to hold Ruby in an embrace as the light leaves her eyes and her heart beats its last._

20 year old Vale citizen Roman Torchwick walks out the back of this new nightclub, newly owned by a guy called 'Junior', who just had around 5000-7000 lien stolen by the upcoming criminal, when he came across a scene straight out of a movie. A woman, dressed in a dark top and skirt, with stockings and, oddly enough, a white cloak. Walking up to the still women, Roman can't tell if she is unconscious or just passed out and when he takes the hood of the woman's cloak of check if she is alright, he notices that she has red hair that's almost black at the roots. Roman check to see if the woman is alright by pulling out his scroll to see if she has any injuries since it's so dark. Roman clicks his scroll on and swears loudly "Holy shit!" as he sees that the woman is covered in cuts and injuries.

He falls backwards, feeling a little dizzy at the sight of the dead woman's body, when he hears a baby crying. Looking around the woman, he notices that she is holding a small bundle of red cloth. Roman picks up the red cloth and sees whats inside it. What he sees changes his life forever. Taking the dead woman's scroll, Roman grabs the young Ruby Rose and leaves the alley with her in a decision that will change everything.


	2. Chapter 2: New Beginnings

_**Author's Note: Well then, seems like people like where this story is going, so don't worry about me stopping anytime soon for no apparent reason. I will be also changing and making up some facts in this fic for simplicity sake and also a more in-depth story, such as Neo's age. Helpful advice and criticism is appreciated, and hate will be used for marshmallows.**_

 ** _Warning: This story will contain violence, offensive language, death and other mature themes. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THESE THEMES. You have been warned._**

Roman hurried to his small apartment on the West side of Vale in the industrial area, taking his time not to be seen with the little girl in his arms should people be mistaken and think he kidnapped the infant. Quickly diving behind a wall as a small group of teens, Huntsman and Huntresses in training by the look of them, walked past, he did his best to look inconspicuous.

Looking at his scroll, he selected his contacts list looking for the young woman he was sharing his apartment with. Finding her name, he quickly texted her as the trainees walked past, aimlessly chatting with each other. 'Neo, are you awake?'. A few moments pasted as he waited for a response before getting one, '0.o'. Roman sighed in annoyance, he had spent the last 5 months with the 8 year old mute and she still insisted on not responding with words. Roman looked around briefly, making sure the trainees had pasted before replying, 'I need you to do me a favour, get me some child clothes, age 2-3, and some food suitable for the same age.'. The mute's response was received almost as soon as he sent his strange request, '0.0 ?' Roman face palmed before replying, 'It's hard to explain, just do it and I'll get you some of your ice cream tomorrow OK?'. ':)' is what he got in response, but he knew that meant Neo was going to do it.

An hour later, Roman arrived at the apartment he called home. It was a run-down place, not exactly very exquisite but what could a part-time crook that dropped out of his third year at Beacon and had no family left do? Walking up the stairs to the top floor of the place where his apartment was a hassle as elevator was always busted and the stairs annoying made, so that it took an unnecessarily longer time than at most structures as they went out more than needed.

Grabbing his scroll from his jeans pocket, he inserted it into the lock, before opening the door and stepping inside. Taking off the bowler hat he had owned since he stole it years ago, he placed it on a rack and stepped into the "main room". This room was basically a kitchen and lounge room in one area, with 3 doors leading into two bedrooms and the bathroom.

Roman sat down on the sofa in the lounge room, sighing heavily at the small red bundle in his arms. Close examination reveals that the little girl is wearing some miniature version of what her dead mother was wearing, except it is black in colour and the red bundle of cloth is actually a cape with a hood. The girl also has the same deep, dark red hair that's almost black it the roots. The child's eyes however are a striking silver, which puzzles Roman as to how exactly one would come to have such a strange eye colour that you wouldn't see every day.

With a tired look around, Roman notices that Neo hasn't gotten back yet. Yawning to himself, he lies down on the couch with the infant on his chest and drifts off to sleep.

|/|

Yang didn't understand why her Dad was so concerned. She had woken up that morning to the sound of him hitting something and after going down stairs to see what was wrong, Yang saw her dad with his head on the kitchen table, shaking slightly, before picking up his scroll and pressing a few buttons. Yang decided to walk up to him, "Daddy? What's wrong?" she asked innocently. Tai turned to face his eldest daughter with a distraught appearance. "Yang, have you seen Summer? I don't have her scroll's new number." he asks Yang, his voice sounding like he had spent a while without sleep. Yang shook her head in confusion. Was Summer late or did something happen to her? Unlike some children her age, Yang understood that Summer hunted monsters and knew it was dangerous, so had Summer been hurt in that hunt she went on?

It was later that evening that they had gotten _the call._ The call from a man called Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon academy and a senior Huntsman that Yang had met with her family before. Why he had called them, Yang would have never guessed.

Ozpin sighed quietly as he called Tai. He really didn't want to be the bringer of bad news to a family that he is good friends but as he was a close friend and a senior Huntsman, it was his duty to tell them what happened. Ozpin waited for Tai to pick up, knowing that he would be destroying the poor man's heart, but not having the choice of not telling him. "Um who is this?" a small girl with quite long blond hair answered. Ozpin smiled at Yang, "Hello Yang, my name is Ozpin, can I speak with you and your father?".

Yang looked behind her before saying quietly, "Dad is being weird, he thinks something happened to Summer.". Ozpin feels a lump in his throat as the little girl tells him this, and as he is about to go and ask if he can talk to Tai, the girl shouts, "Dad! A guy called Oz pin is on the scroll! He wants to talk with you!".

Tai looked up at what Yang had said to him. He got up and walked over to Yang, who handed him his scroll. "Oz, did you find something on what happened to Summer?" Tai asks desperately. He watches as Oz sighs softly before saying, "At 9PM last night, Summer was seen coming off a Bullhead and met with a tall man who led her to a bookstore that I occasional meet her at when she's in Vale. 20 minutes after she entered the store, a man across the street claimed to have seen a woman in a white cloak run out of the store and down an alley." Oz pauses briefly before continuing. "Forensics discovered blood at the scene that was linked to Summer Rose. After following the blood trail that police specialists tracked, Summer was found behind a nightclub some distance away. Unfortunately," Ozpin pauses once again before sighing and saying, "Summer Rose had been attacked and died sometime this morning."

A moment passes before Ozpin continues. "Security footage of the alley from the nightclub shows two men coming up to her shortly before she died and appeared to be making sure she had died or was close to it. One of them picked up what appeared to be a small infant in a red cape and looked like he was going to kill her too but was instead left to die with Summer." Ozpin notices Tai has tears forming in his eyes and Yang is also trying not to cry herself. Giving them a few moments to themselves. "If you want me to continue or stop, I'm willing to finish another ti..". "No," Tai says suddenly, "Tell me what has happened to Ruby". Even though he has spent most Ruby childhood either doing jobs for Ozpin or teaching at Signal, he still cared for his daughter.

"For some reason the footage from the camera cut out. All I can tell you is that your daughter Ruby was no longer there and has kidnapped or taken and due to the lack of any evidence, it is unlikely that she might be found again...I'm so very sorry Tai."

|/|

Roman woke up to the sound of his apartment door opening. Being a light sleeper, the criminal had little trouble adjusting to the lights that were turned on. "Well Neo did you get what I needed?" Neo walked in and sat down on the chair opposite of Roman, nodding her head tiredly. "Let me guess, people insisting on taking their time and questioning why you need these?" Neo, nodding her head again, looked over at him with an expression clearly saying, 'why did I need to get this?', to which Roman yawned and said, "Well you know that nightclub I went to?" A nod," Yeah well I managed to get the money but there was an...issue, as I tried to leave." Roman picks up the little girl sleeping next to him gently. "I found this little lady's mother dead in the alley behind the joint." Neo, being from a cruel tribe she claimed to have been raised in, looked a little confused, as if to say, 'why did you bring her here then?'.

Sighing at his 8 year old 'friend', Roman grabbed the scroll he had taken and turned it on. Spending the next few minutes to try and work out who exactly it's former owner was and the name of the little girl now in his care. It didn't take long for him to realise that the scroll must have been new as it lacked many personal things. All Roman could find was a name and a picture of the little girl with her mother. Torchwick found it rather funny and ironic that the girl's name was Ruby Rose given her appearance but that was beside the point. Looking down at the girl, Roman couldn't help but feel sorry for her, with no one else he knows could look after here.

No one except him, Roman Torchwick, a Huntsman drop out and crook.

Looking up, he notices Neo pouting at him, "Yes Neo?" Neo points at Ruby with a frown, her question clear. "Well this scroll doesn't exactly have much on it, other than the girl's name and an image of the mother and her. Judging by how she had been left there, little Ruby here doesn't have any family and you know how bad the orphanage system is."

Neo actually _shudders_ at the thought of how bad that system is. "So, I reckon we can look after her, after all, she's only little, shouldn't be too hard eh?" Roman logically reasons. Neo looks at Roman, then at Ruby, and then Roman again before silently sighing and nods her head in agreement.

Roman grabs Ruby and puts her on his leg gently. The little girl looks up at the man with an inquisitive look and a tilt of her head before saying quietly, "Where Mummy?" Roman can only look at her, thinking about how to explain this to her, before saying, "She...had to go somewhere...and she won't be able to come back."

The little girl can only look confused at what the man had said. "But..." Ruby says before mumbling something unintelligible. Roman looks at her dejected look, "Don't worry, me and Neo here will look after you now." He points over at a now sleeping Neo, who's lying on the chair with her leggings on one arm and her head on another.

"We are your family now ok?"

"Ok"

|/|

On a patch of land on the island of Patch (pun intended), a young Yang Xiao Long watches as her dad end the call with that 'oz pin' guy and starts crying at the loss of his wife and daughter. Yang too is crying, her adoptive mother Summer, gone, her younger sister Ruby, who she didn't honestly spend much time with, gone. Their entire life had flip over in the course of one conversation.

 **Author's Note: I'd just like mention that this is my first fic, so while chapters are somewhat short now, I will eventually make them longer as I get better at this and improve my style of writing. Also in case anyone was wondering, Roman is somewhat OOC as this is before he changes into the criminal mastermind we know in the show, and such is less cruel and rude. Neo is a little different too and will be seen as this stories version of Yang to Ruby. But two main changes I think I should point out is that in this story, Yang wasn't as close to Ruby as she is in the show as I'd like to think she got closer to her since she was basically raising her alone. Also, Tai, for the purpose of this story's plot, had been unable to spend much time with a young Ruby, hence why Ruby doesn't mention either of them to her adoptive father, she was never that close to them and were basically forgotten about.**

 **For now, I'll be doing daily updates or at least every second day.**


	3. Chapter 3: Criminal's Game

_**Author's Note: Took a day off to help with Christmas preparations. And had to spend some time planning out where the story will go. Took me a bit of revision to think of a decent way to continue through this point.**_

 ** _|/|_**

 ** _Nine Years Later_**

"Umm, excuse me Mister?"

Looking around, the shopkeeper saw a young girl looking up at him. "Hm? What can I do for you little lady?" the kindly old man asked them, expecting her to ask for sweets or some other thing she might want. "I was wondering if you could help me find something?" The older man said, "Well of course, what are you looking for?"

Leading the shopkeeper away from the counter, Roman watches as Ruby takes the man around a corner, out of sight. Walking in the store, he watches as the girl shows the man some mechanical parts. Activating his semblance, he walks behind the counter, opens the display cases and starts taking dust vials and crystals, piling them in a black duffel bag. Looking up at the security cameras, Roman chuckles as they continue film everything but what he was doing. Stepping away from the counter and walking out the door, Torchwick presses a button on his scroll, signalling to Ruby that he has finished and for her to leave.

Looking down at her scroll, Ruby sees Roman's message. She turns to the shopkeeper who's standing on a ladder to get a box of parts for them. "Excuse me sir? I have to go now, sorry for wasting your time." As she turns to leave, the man hands Ruby the box, "It's alright, you can have this." he tells her. Smiling brightly at him, she thanks him before leaving, Neo waiting outside. Grabbing Neo's arm, they disappear in a flash of light.

|/|

Looking up from his drink, a stranger watches as the two girls disappear from outside a Dust and Weapons shop. After a moment to pay, the stranger walks off, thinking about what was just witnessed.

|/|

Teleportation was, in Ruby's opinion, a very exhilarating feeling as they appeared in mansion they had recently moved to after spending the last few years selling contraband on the black market and doing all kinds of illegal activities had left them quite rich. Moving straight to the kitchen and opening the fridge, Neo took out some of her Neapolitan ice-cream (obviously) before lying down in the lounge room and turning the TV on. She was meant to go and get Ruby's adoptive father, but felt like making him have to walk him home. Ruby knew that Neo liked messing with him and laughed as she noticed her relaxing instead, earning a cheeky smile from Neo. Entering her room and placing the parts on a small workbench she had. For a 12 year old, Ruby was very intelligent and gifted in working with weaponry, having made her own weapon, a scythe/gun hybrid she called Crescent Rose. Ruby decides to spend some time working on the Project she was close to finishing, working on the firing mechanisms and some complex internal machinery.

|/|

Roman walked inside later that afternoon, scowling as Neo looked up from her show and smiled at him innocently while he went past. "So, where's Little Red at then?" he asked Neo, saying the nickname they had for Ruby because of her red cape she still had. Neo points over at Ruby's bedroom's direction, where muffled sounds can be heard coming from. "Working on her project again?" Roman inquires, to which Neo can only shrug. A few weeks ago, he noticed his daughter had started collecting parts for something that she was working on, but despite how many time he asked what she was making, Ruby only ever said it was something she was working on. Roman had faith that she wouldn't hurt herself doing whatever she was doing, she was, despite how she acted sometimes, very smart and knew her way around tools. Walking off to his own room, Roman started working out just how much they could sell all the dust they had stolen recently.

|/|

 _ **A few days later...**_

Roman had just finished organising where he wanted the men he hired to look after the dust to move it to when Ruby walked in, carrying something behind her red cape. "Uh, Dad?" Turning around, he saw that she looked a little nervous, rocking her feet backwards and forwards. Roman asks "Heeey Red, what can dad do for you?" Ruby paused for a second before continuing. "Remember when I asked what you used to use as a Huntsman? That cane you had but got broken?" Staring at her confused. He remembered a few months ago, she had asked him that question and how he describe the simple metal cane he used to own before being broken by an Ursa Major. He replied, "Yeah, what about it?" Ruby took her Project out from behind her back and gave it to her father. Looking down at it, he was surprise by what was in his hands.

It was a metal cane, much like the one he used to own during his time at Beacon, except it was reinforced at the end handle and at the bottom of the shaft with a deep red colour metal and the handle was bone white. Examining it, Roman found that there were two switches on it near the handle and a small trigger. "I made it for you Dad. It's a cane like how I think you old one was like, but I made it so the handle shoots out like a hook and is also a gun." Pointing out the switch closest to the handle, she explained how it was used by pushing it on shot out the hook and pushing it back retracted the handle. Moving down the shaft, Ruby showed her dad how it snapped open like a revolver and explained how to load it and fire it, the other switch being a safety which closed the end of the stick when one and opened to reveal a sight when it was off.

Roman really didn't know what to say. His adoptive daughter, someone he cares for, had given back a piece of his own life history. Looking at Ruby's happy, smiling face, he faced her and said, "Thank you Ruby" before for hugging her. A moment passed before Roman said to her, "Can you go and get ready for me and tell Neo to get ready as well?" Ruby nods her head happily before leaving the room. As she walks out, she sees her dad load a blast crystal into his new weapon, eager to try it out.

|/|

It was already night time when Roman and co. arrived at the site where the exchange would be happening. Waiting by the warehouse's entrance, Roman pulled out his scroll and checked the time. Checking that they were not early or late, he slipped his scroll back into his jacket's pocket as some faunus sent by Roman's buyer walked up to them. "So, do you have the dust we asked for?" Roman smirks arrogantly at the man's attitude to him, these kinds of guys not realising that Roman was a criminal mastermind and was the best in Vale, and could easily make these guys disappear. Roman had proved to be quite the criminal and had made himself out as big time criminal, people paying him big money to steal things, anything from guns, dust, and even bombs.

"Don't worry, your group wanted this amount of dust, which is quite the amount. Plan of starting a war, are we?" Roman says cheekily. He knows exactly who these people are, having had Ruby, with her innocent looks and semblance that allowed her to move extremely quickly, follow them. Roman knew that they were from the White Fang and that they wanted to 'fight for their rights as Faunus'. Honest he couldn't care, they payed well and everyone got what they wanted.

As Roman worked out the details of the transaction with the one in the charge, a bull faunus with red hair, he had Neo and Ruby oversee the physical transaction. While the White Fang members didn't understand why two little girls were trusted with such a task, the local Vale thugs did. If Roman was the top dog, these girls of his were his lieutenants. The girls may not have looked like much, but they were deadly. Neo was known as Roman's personal hitman, if someone displeased him majorly or tried to undermine him as Vale's leading thief, everyone knew that no matter what, the little girl could kill better than almost any professional assassins. The younger one however not many people knew much about, other then she was very close to Torchwick and is dangerous. Of course, every criminal in Vale knew that the two girls were very close and that while you might think to try hurt the younger one, either Neo or Torchwick himself would make sure you didn't last another day.

This was the reputation that every felon in Vale knew of and knew not to mess with, for their own sake.

|/|

Once the White Fang grunts had loaded the dust onto their bullheads and left, Roman ordered his hired goons to remove any evidence before having Neo take him and Ruby back to their house. Roman watch as Ruby went off into her bedroom. Knowing her, she would spend some time working on her weapon and then go to sleep. Neo on the other hand was going to go and do her favourite thing at home, eat ice-cream and watch TV.

Watching as the only two people he cares about go to do their own thing, Roman yawns and heads off to sleep. Honestly, those mutts can be really annoying.

|/|

 _ **Three Years Later**_

When Roman got a tip from one of his informants that someone was looking for him, he didn't expect them to find him without him already knowing.

That's why when that woman and her posse showed up after he met with a government official to have Ruby's legal documents all sent to him with the help of a bribe. "I've been told your Roman Torchwick, am I correct?"

A woman with golden, almost glowing eyes, dark hair and a red dress that left little to the imagination appeared from out in front of him, likely from one of the alleys nearby. Flanking her were a two younger people, a boy and girl. The male had silver hair, wearing a blue and black long-sleeved shirt and jeans in the same colour scheme. On his shins and feet were greaves that were obvious some sort of weapon. The girl had a darker skin tone and emerald hair that somehow looked authentic, red eyes, some weird looking olive shallow-cut crop top and some intricate white vest _thing,_ white shorts that were partially covered by brown chaps and overlong belt. On said belt was a pouch that held two objects that look suspiciously like guns.

"Well hello there beautiful, what ever could you want me then?" Roman shamelessly says to the older woman, before regretting it when she gives him can only be described as a threatening smile as she replies, "I have need of someone of your... _Talents_." Roman, seeing the look on her face, can tell that he really doesn't have much choice if he wants to get out this confrontation alive. "Yeah of course, just tell me what you need for me to do." Roman says, making sure this won't end badly for him. The woman can only smile at his reaction, "What I need for now, is dust, lots of it. I'll send you the specifics later. Don't forget now Roman." Walking away with her henchmen in tow she says back to Roman as they walk away, "We are going to be work very much so my dear Torchwick, for quite some time."

To this Roman, ever the careful man he is, tells Neo to keep Ruby away from these people. Walking after them, but stay out of sight, Roman hears to guy say, "...sure that he will do what we want?" to which he hears their boss say, "Roman will have his uses, perhaps we can use his pet assassin to act as an extra teammate for our time at Beacon." Upon hearing them mention his old school, Roman sneaks away before he can hear the rest of their conversation.

While he may not care much for the academy, Roman knows that if they are infiltrating the school, he'll want in on what they are doing there. Maybe now he has his daughter's legal information, he can do some modifications to it and get her into the school. She has the combat skills for sure and he can easily teach her any academic stuff she needs to know, but how to impress old man Ozpin into letting her in a few years early...

As Roman Torchwick walks away, he starts to scheme up a plan to get Ruby into Beacon.

 _ **Author's Note: Excuse the time-skip, just couldn't think of anything that I could have included that would have been noteworthy, so instead I decided to make so more plot development towards the actually RWBY timeline and more room to plan.**_

 _ **Roman's semblance, in case you haven't caught on to it, is the ability to not been seen or heard on cameras or filmed digitally, for example, security footage will not show him when played back if he had his semblance on. Also, anything he does isn't filmed unless it effects a living thing. So, he could steal money from a cashier and that would not have appeared on the camera, but if he stab someone, it would film what happened and his 'camo' would break. I got this idea for him after seeing Vigil's ability in Rainbow Six Siege and thought that for a thief, this would be a perfect tool for him. It would also explain how he manages to avoid being arrested since they can't find him other than seeing him physically.**_


	4. Chapter 4: Fight Club

**_A Few Weeks Later..._**

"For a criminal, Roman Torchwick never knew just how demanding someone could be for stolen objects. The woman he ran into had him and Neo spending so much time out, what was ending up being them stealing practically all the dust in Vale. It had gotten so annoying, that every few days, Roman visited Junior's nightclub to hire some of his thugs just so he could keep up with his 'boss's' demands.

Now normally, if someone hired Roman to steal something and they were incredibly annoying about it, he'd usually end up keeping whatever was stolen if it was valuable or worth selling, if not? He just demanded a higher pay. However, this really wasn't an option with this 'Cinder', the one time he did try to pull out of the job, she lit her hand on fire and asked Torchwick if it would be a good idea. Of course, Roman acted like he was merely joking, taking her hint.

That was why he was at Junior's tonight, Ruby with him dressed in something less obvious then her usual clothes, red sports glasses, and her cape wrapped around her throat like a scarf. Walking in from the front door, Ruby always loved the way the place had been made, with a dance floor in the centre of the building, a DJ on a balcony behind it, bar to the left and lounges to the right. Seeing her dad move towards the bar, she quickly spotted Junior and some of his thugs, noticing their mix of axes, swords and guns somewhere on their bodies or nearby.

|/|

"Red, can you do me a favour? Stay back and keep an eye on things ok?" Roman asks as they near Junior. Nodding, Ruby walks off to one side of the dance floor, which just happens has a good field of view of the entire club. Smiling as his little girl does as he's taught her, Roman walks up to Junior and taps Melodic Cudgel on the chair next to the man. Junior looks up, and upon seeing Torchwick, gets up and says to the man, "Let me guess, you want to get some more of my boys for something?" Roman smirks at this, "Well you know me too well, as I just happen to need some muscle to help me...acquire...some dust."

|/|

 _Junior looks at Roman, the egotistical man was standing up with his cane under his arm, holding out some lien. Sighing to himself, Junior takes the money and points to a backroom, "Go back, take which ever four of them suit your need." Roman smirks as he walks off. Junior sighs and turns back to his drink._

|/|

Ruby knew that her dad didn't like people knowing who she was so related to so when he asked her to watch the place, she did just that. Once she saw Junior direct Roman to the backrooms, she knew he'd want her to stay around for a bit before leaving. The Malachite twins noticed her and scowled. The girls had a bit of grudge against Ruby when she bet up two of Junior's thugs that tried to mug her, and the twins saw this and got into a fight which was never finished as police had been called by a passer-by.

Ruby was about to move a lounge in the corner of the club when she noticed something. What she did see was someone coming in at this time, which was unusual as usually people were already here or came in a group. What set off Ruby was the person. A woman with long blond hair, lilac eyes and an orange scarf. She was wearing a brown jacket that left her lower stomach open, a crop top that had some black emblem on her left side. Brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching around her waist. Underneath this is a longer, white piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. Brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks. A lavender bandana was tied around her left knee.

On her wrists were two bracelets, that to Ruby's trained eye, were obviously some kind of expanding weapon. Watching as she walked up to the bar, she stopped next to Junior and appeared to order a drink. What seemed to happen was Junior sent the Malachites off and started to talk to the girl to which the girl says something before she grabs him by the balls hard. Ruby watches as the girl pulls a scroll out and shows it to the man. Noticing a large number of Junior's thugs rush up to possibly try and help him. The girl lets go and as the club owner walks away the girl follows. As they get closer to Ruby, she hears the blond say, "lets kiss and make up ok?" Snickering at what she said, Ruby watches as Junior bends down a little to try and do just that, before achieving lift-off and flying across the club with a punch to the face.

|/|

As everyone else starts running out of the club, Ruby sits down and watches as the girl's bracelets, as Ruby predicted, turn into gauntlets with shotgun barrels on the fronts. Ruby watches as she starts to do what can only be described as beating the hell out of the thugs. Ruby can't help but sigh when the Bear DJ pulls a machine gun out, making the music stop playing right, it was good music! Noticing the Malachite Twins walking out to the dance floor as Blondie flies through the air with a blast of her shotguns and kicks the DJ off the balcony.

Glaring at the Malachites from under her sports glasses Ruby gets up as they watch the girl reload her gauntlets, jump off the balcony and fires exploding shots down at them. As they back flip away, Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose and fires at Melanie, rapidly forcing the girl away from her sister. While Ruby may not take all her father's teachings to heart, she does know that it's good to get revenge. As Blondie and Miltia start fighting, Ruby runs behind Melanie with her semblance, and smacks her across the back of her head with the gun form of Crescent Rose, before firing her gun into the twin's stomach, which is blocked by her Aura, it does knock her flying back.

Getting up, Melanie runs at Ruby swinging her right leg at her before fainting and switching to her left. Ruby blocks it and swings her gun around, transforming it into its scythe form. Swinging it around, Ruby fires Crescent Rose to gain momentum which the twin can only dodge as trying to block would likely break her leg. As Melanie desperately tries to avoid being hit, Ruby swing's her weapon behind, planting it into the ground and fires, kicking into the girl. The kick launches her flying across the room, smashing through a glass cylinder used to reflect lights.

Looking over at the other fight going on, Ruby retracts her baby into its gun mode and watches the twin get sent flying over her into the other cylinder, with the blond girl standing with a smirk on her face at how easy her fight was. Ruby knows that the twins are skilled, they can be easily defeated when separated as they rely working together.

|/|

Yang fires Ember Celcia into the girl and launches her flying. Smirking at her beaten opponent, Yang actually does a double take as she sees some other girl with a massive gun in her hands. Yang saw both the twins but didn't even notice the little girl had already beaten up the other one, who she see's walking over to her sister as they walk away. Before Yang can say anything, the building's disco lights turn off and Junior walks up, a RPG in his hands. Looking at both the girls, he claims, "You girl's a gonna pay for this." Yang resume her boxing stance as Junior fires rockets off at them.

|/|

Ruby back flips as soon as Junior fires at them, dodging the rockets with ease. Firing Crescent Rose and activating her semblance, she sees the girl fire her guns at the rockets, destroying them. Junior charges at her, his RPG turning into a bat, and swings it at her. The girl manages to block two of the surprise swings but is knocked back by a third, dazed, and is sent flying by a round house swing from Junior. Ruby jumps onto the DJ's balcony and starts firing at Junior, causing him to try and block her bullets. The girl gets up, with her hair on fire and eyes turned red, and charges at Junior who doesn't even see her coming, too distracted by Ruby's sniper fire. The girl throws punch after punch at Junior which quickly break's his bat in half and is sent back flying.

Junior stands up with the broken handle of his weapon in his right hand and some of the girl's hair in his left. He smirks at the girl who, realising that he tore some of her hair out, causes her hair to explode out violently. Ruby laughs as she watches the girl launch herself at Junior and punch a hay-maker right into his face, send him out the building.

|/|

Yang takes a deep breath as the fire on her hair dies out and her eyes turn back to their normal colour. Turning around to the girl in red, who jumped down onto the dance floor again, Yang walks over to her, "Thanks for the help! What's your name?". The girl looks at her before saying, "My name's Ruby, what's yours?" "Yang, so what were you doing here?" Ruby is about to say something when a scroll goes off. Yang watches as she pulls out her scroll and answers it, "Hello? Oh, hi dad...yeah, I did...oooh ok then...meet you at home then? Ok bye." Ruby faces Yang, who is looking at her with a raise eyebrow. "I got to go. See you around!" Ruby runs off before Yang can say anything. "Ok then..." Yang says, walking back to where see left her bike, Bumblebee.

|/|

Ruby ran home with the help of her semblance, arriving there in a few minutes of leaving the club. Ruby was kinda sad that she had to leave that Yang girl, she seemed quite nice. But her dad called her, saying there was something he needed her to do. Ruby guessed that he wanted to get her scope out a place for him or follow someone. She didn't mind doing this, it was fun to her and always provided a challenge. As Ruby walked inside, Neo appeared in front of her, smiling with her scroll out

Showing a picture of her.

At the club.

Fighting the twins.

Ruby gasped at who she considered her sister. "You can't show dad that!" Ruby's beg was cut short by Roman shouting out, "Ruby, come here!" Neo smiled at Ruby as she walked past. Ruby walked into the lounge room where Roman was sitting on the couch, bowler hat off and on the couch's arm. "Ruby, can you tell me why Neo showed me a picture of you fighting those annoying twins? As much as I don't like them and would love to see you knock them around, I doubt Junior would feel the same way." Ruby nervously chuckled before saying to her dad, "Weeeeeeell I might have bet them up and Junior too..."

Roman looked at her, raising an eyebrow as she continued, "But I didn't start the fight! There was this blond girl called Yang that punched Junior, and bet up a ton of his men, and Miltia, and Junior again..." Ruby trails of into the fight itself while Roman sits by, smiling at her. This isn't the first time she got into a fight and he found out, but he didn't really care that much. In the crime world, it doesn't hurt to show people not to mess with you.

"Well Red, all I have to say is good work at beating them up. But now that wasn't the real reason I wanted you to come back." Roman tells his daughter, who sighs gratefully. "Well, uh no not really." Ruby confesses to Roman, who just crosses his leg on top of the other. "You know how I've been teaching you about history and grimm and other things that don't really matter to our line of work?" Ruby nods, "Well you know how I've been hired to get someone a lot of dust?" Ruby nods, having been told a few days ago about why they had been stealing more dust and for who."

|/|

"She's up to something, something big, involving Beacon and possibly the city. I overheard her when I first met her saying they were going to do something there and I need you do get inside the school and figure out what. Can you do that for me?" Roman asks Ruby a very big thing. Ruby looking at her dad, before saying, "Uh ok, but how am I going to get in there? I'm 15 and the entree age is 17, so I don't think I can trick them that I'm not." Roman smiles at what she says. "I have a plan, that should get the Headmaster personally let you in."

"So, Ruby, I'm telling you now, do you want to go to Beacon Academy and find out what this Cinder is up to. Because what she is up to, can only end badly for our little family. If your caught, your gonna have to be able to fight any friends you make off and get away." Roman warns her one more time.

Ruby nods determinedly. "Yes dad." Roman smiles at Ruby, before telling her to go to sleep. Ruby walks off to bed, saying goodnight. Neo walks in from the doorway. "Neo if your sister gets discovered, be ready to help her." Neo tilts her head slightly, "No, don't kill any of her friends, I doubt they would try and kill her anyway. Just get her out of there if it goes down." Neo nods, looking at Roman with a growling expression. "Yeah, if she's having trouble with grimm, help her out as long as you don't get caught. Also, if you can, try and give Ruby some practise every so often."

|/|

 ** _Author's Note: Had to update it, didn't load properly, messed up a ton of it._**

 ** _Well, Ruby has met Yang and agreed to go to Beacon to spy on Cinder, Neo is being guardian angel and occasional trainer_**

 ** _Also, you all seem to like this story, so I guess this story won't be stopping anytime soon._**  
 ** _Until next time, AD_**


	5. Chapter 5: The Plan

When normal people thought of criminal masterminds, they thought hours upon hours of elaborate and careful planning, with backups for any contingency. In truth? Roman simply planned for what he was going to do initially and adapt to whatever happens. That was why his scheme to get Ruby into Beacon was brilliant in it's simplicity.

Having payed off one of the cafeteria workers, he knew that senior professors made coffee orders at around 8:45 PM, to a certain shop, located near a dust store that Roman hadn't hit yet. Plan was for Ruby to be in there already, doing something that looked innocent enough like reading from one of those weapon magazines she loves, when he comes in with the thugs he hired off Junior. None of them actually knew of Ruby, meaning they'd try and do something stupid to her like try a rob her. Ruby would then take the fight outside and beat the hell out of the thugs, before he came up, said something to her and fired Melodic Cudgel at her, with complete faith that she could easily dodge it. He'd would then proceed to climb up to a nearby building and have Ruby see him and follow. Roman had managed to convince Cinder to be on standby with a bullhead, to which she could take and get this week's dust afterwards to ward off suspicion. By now, the huntsman or huntress would have heard the explosion he fired and come to help Ruby. From this, they would likely try and ground the bullhead, but Cinder could easily stop them for him.

Roman thanked his luck that for all this time, Cinder still did not know about Ruby and could make this plan a success. Cinder seemed to be the kind to blackmail people by threatening to attack families, but Roman knew better and managed to keep Ruby from being known.

|/|

 ** _Later that Night..._**

 _Glynda Goodwitch sighed as she was walking in downtown Vale. While she personally preferred tea, it was an agreement between Ozpin and the three senior professors that every Friday night someone went and got the coffee ordered for next week. As Beacon's professor for Combat Training and Criminal Interactions, she found mundane tasks like this boring, she'd rather go off and relax somewhere nice then get the favoured beverage of Beacon's faculty._

 _Well most of them._

 _|/|_

 _Ruby knew that her dad's plan was simple, but she also knew that sometimes, simple is better. Her father had taught her much about how to be a successful crook, and one of the best lessons she had was that elaborate schemes had a tendency to go wrong somehow, and that it's better to have a simpler plan and be able to improvise should something go wrong. As Ruby walked into the targeted store, called_ From Dust Till Dawn _. Ruby can't help but giggle at the place's name._ _Ridiculous_ _names aside, Ruby put her hood on and walked over to a stand with magazines for weapons on it. Taking a newer one, she stands by reading it with her headphones in and hood up._

 _|/|_

Roman swaggered down a dark alley, thugs in tow, briefly stopping to smoke his cigar. As they made their way down the street, people stop and gasp slightly at the sight of some the dangerous men, moving out of their way quickly.

Well at least one of them actually is dangerous.

Roman walks down the street to the store he selected for his plan. Opening the door, he sees that no one is in here, meaning his little girl is around here somewhere, a bit out of the way.

So ideally? It's perfect, no other witnesses.

|/|

 _"Sh sh sh sh... Calm down, we're not here for your money," Roman looks over at them, "Grab the dust." he tells them. Gary walks over to the dust_ _dispensers_ _on the right side over the store, he sees a little girl over reading some magazines. Drawing his sword, he points it at her, saying, "Alright kid, put your hands where I can see 'em." When the girl doesn't react, Gary scowls before saying again, "Hey, I said hands in the air!" walking over to her, he says more to himself then her, "have you got a_ _death wish_ _or something?" He taps her on the shoulder and knocks her hood off, revealing red and black hair._

 _|/|_

Ruby feels someone tap her and pull her hood off. She turns her head around a little, seeing one of Junior's thugs point at his ear. Taking her headphones off, Ruby asks the man, "Yes?" The man looks at her angrily and says, "I said, put your hands in the air, now!" Ruby looks at him before acting a little dull, asking "Are you...robbing me?" Almost shout out a "Yes!", Ruby looks at the man with a dull look before saying, "Ah..." before she kicks him with a semblance powered kick to chest, launching him backwards. Another thug aims a gun at her, yelling "FREEZE!" to which Ruby simply fires Crescent Rose, launching her forward into the guy and knocking them out the building through a glass window.

 _|/|_

Roman looks out the window as he watches Ruby extend her weapon into it's scythe form. Roman never did know why she used a scythe, they were very rare and hard to use, much less master. But when his little Ruby put her mind to something, she didn't give up easily. Maintaining his farce of not actually knowing what was happening, Roman watches her spin it around a little before planting the blade into the ground. Roman mutters to himself, "Ok?" Looking at the thugs, he says like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "Get her."

Roman then gets a first class seat to watch Ruby kick the asses of the thugs, almost literally, as she spins on her planted weapons shaft, and kick the first thug directly in the face. Pulling her scythe out of the ground as she kicks off the man's face, she fires it to get momentum, and swings it directly at two of the thugs, cloths-lining them and knocking them back into the store. The last thug decides to get loud, pulling out a machine gun and firing at Ruby, who, using her semblance, fires Crescent Rose to make her move rapidly from one spot to another. She does this twice once to the left and right before swing her scythe like a bat and smacking the gunman up into the air, and smacks him back down again.

Roman watches as the man lands at his feet. Maintaining the act, he says to her, "Quite magnificent little Red, truly. Now right now, I got places to be this evening and no time to chat, so this," Roman raises Melodic Cudgel, aiming at his daughter, "is where we part ways." Firing the second he finishes talking. As he fires at her, Roman runs for the ladder at the target building. He watches Ruby fire her gun and fly up into the air, dodging his explosive flare. Watching as she says something to the shopkeeper, she follows Roman, using her gun like a Pogo stick to fly up onto the roof.

|/|

 _Glynda had just left the coffee shop, having just payed for next weeks coffee for almost everyone but her to enjoy. Glynda sighs as she starts walking back to her bullhead, when she hears an explosion somewhere nearby, using her semblance to get her onto a roof, she sees the_ _notorious_ _criminal Roman Torchwick climb onto a nearby roof, soon chased by some little girl in a red cape. As she ran to help the girl apprehend Torchwick, a Bullhead shows up and the criminal climbs in, not before turning around and shouting, "End of the line, Red!" and throws a red burn crystal at the little girl. Glynda races forward and projects a shield to protect her._

 _|/|_

Ruby watches the huntress in front of her, making some kind of shield in front of them. Watching in amazement as the huntress throws some purple energy shaped like orbs at the Bullhead, shaking it but not causing much damage, it does cause Torchwick to stumble a little inside. Roman turns to Cinder in the cockpit, who comes swaps with him, as he starts flying instead. The huntress throws a storm crystal, making a cloud appear above the bullhead, which rains icicles down on them. Cinder throws some kind of fireball that is blocked by another shield, but splashes on the ground like water, which then explodes upwards with a scream. Back flipping out of the way, the huntress causes the debris to form a spear shape and launches it at the bullhead, to which Cinder shoots it with 3 smaller fireballs that act almost like lasers. The spear of debris splits into 3 with each coming from different angles, but is stopped by some sort of nova from Cinder, causing all of the matter to disintegrate.

Ruby, not wanting to draw any suspicion, compacts Crescent Rose into it's gun form, and starts firing at the bullhead, which is casually blocked by Cinder, who creates 5 smaller versions of that screaming explosion. Seeing her make a hand gesture that Ruby has associated with her attacks, Ruby leaps forward to dodge it, as does the huntress. However this distraction allows her dad time to get away.

Ruby looks at the huntress before saying what would be expected for someone meeting a real one. "Your a huntress. Do you do autographs?" Ruby says with an almost fan girl look.

|/|

The huntress, Glynda, didn't do autographs.

But she did lecture, which meant that she was likely the teacher they were looking for. "They started it, I was protecting myself!" Ruby complained. "If it was up to me, you'd be sent home, with a pat on the back," Glynda sees that look on her face, "And a slap on the wrist!" She the slaps her horse crop on the table right in front of the girl's hand, making her jump. "However, someone wants to meet you."

|/|

Ozpin knew when he walked in, the girl looks vaguely familiar. She had silver eyes, a rare trait, red hair that darkened closer to her head. But her cape looked very familiar but with different colour. Ozpin looked at the girl, who had only said that her name was Ruby. Apparently when his deputy asked for her surname, she said she didn't have one. "Miss Ruby, you have...silver eyes." Ruby looked a little confused at this, "Uh um...?" but he cuts her off before she can say anything. "So. Where did you learn to do this?" Glynda is holding a tablet, with a recording of Ruby's fight with the criminals. Ruby looks at him before muttering, "I taught myself..." Ozpin is actually shocked when he hears this, though his face doesn't show it. "You taught yourself how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ruby shrugs before looking at them, "I grew up with my sister, we had to learn to fight and so I read a book about weapons and I saw a scythe, so I got some tools and metal and built myself one. I practised with my sister until I was very good with it."

To this, Ozpin raises and eyebrow and replies, "I see." He pauses briefly to take a drink of coffee from his mug, before continuing, "It just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder using at scythe with that kind of skill before. I thought that perhaps you had been trained by him." Ozpin waits for the girl's response, to which she doesn't. "Well then Miss Ruby, with skills like yours, what is it that you intend to do with your abilities?" Ruby looks at him inquisitively before replying, "I don't really know, I'd like to be able to improve my skills and learn a bit more about grimm and how to beat them."

Looking at the girl again, he can tell she is around 15 years old, and while entree to Beacon requires you to be 17, Ozpin can tell that for practical lessons, Miss Ruby will have little to now trouble or handicaps. Her theoretical work could always be taught, but it would be best to see what her kind of knowledge surrounding those topics. "Do you know much about how Vale is run, and the history of our world?" Ruby nods, explaining, "Yes, I spent a few years learning this things for fun and in case I needed to know them."

"Miss Ruby, do you know who I am?" Nodding again, she tells the man, "Your Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon." Smiling at the girl's correct guess, "Hmph, Hello.", the girl replies "Nice to meet you." Ozpin looks at Glynda, who rolls her eyes and shrugs. Looking back at Ruby, he asks her a question that will likely change her life for the better. "How would you feel coming to Beacon and becoming a huntress?" Ruby looks amazed, "But, I've got no credentials or anything..." Ozpin merely smiles and tells her, "I will handle that. I believe that you have the potential to become a great huntress, but you'd have to put in the effort to learn the more academic aspects. So, do you want to come to my school?" Ruby takes a moment, clearly thinking about it, before nodding. "Well alright then, come to the Bullhead transports tomorrow, all new students will be there for the initiation."

|/|

Ruby started walking home and texted Neo to come pick her up. One teleportation later, they are both home. Ruby sits down on the couch with Neo as they both watch some action movies. A few hours later, Roman comes home, and tells Ruby, "Good work Ruby, very good acting and ability to tricking a huntress. Now on a more serious note, what happened after?" Ruby recounts what happened during her meeting with Ozpin, to which Torchwick congratulates he's daughter on a job well done. "Now that your in Beacon, enjoy yourself, make some friends, do all that kind of fuuun stuff. Just be careful not to slip up and make them suspicious. Neo will be ready to bust you out if needed." Neo nods at her little sister, to which Ruby smiles back at. "So, work out what Cinder is up to and let you know. Otherwise be another huntress in training. This is going to be fun!" Ruby says excitedly.

Roman smiles at her antics. He knows that she is a good person and her time at Beacon will be good for her practically. And she will be able to make friends hopefully and enjoy being a normal teen.

|/|

"What is it Oz?"

"I will be taking in new students tomorrow, there is one, a young girl called Ruby. She's 15 but shows excellent weapon skills and keenness to learn. I want to know if you can finish the mission I gave you and not waste time coming back." Ozpin says to Qrow over his scroll. Qrow's face is scowling at what is being asked. "And why's that?" Qrow inquires. "She uses a scythe and is very skilled with it. I would like you to teach her whenever possible." Ozpin pauses for a minute. "Also, the girl reminds me of Summer." This gets a reaction out of Qrow, who's eyes widen in surprise. "I would also like you to look into her possible relation to her while you train her." Qrow is already nodding his head. He had been good friends with Summer and was very angry when he had been told she died. He spent a few years trying to find his niece that disappeared, but to no avail. "Alright, I'll do it, hopefully we can learn something from this."

Ozpin watches as the call ends. Turning his chair around so he is looking out at the Beacon grounds, he sighs before thinking to himself.

This is going to be an interesting year.

 ** _Author's Note: And so like that Ruby is enrolled into Beacon. I would like to point out that I was thinking about skipping most of what happened here, such as the robbery and fights, but I wanted to start the next chapter with Ruby going to Beacon. So I kept it in and made it like this._**

 ** _Until Next time AD._**


	6. Chapter 6: Beacon Academy

_**Author's Note: So, I've been told that a good idea is to start a new paragraph when a new character talks so I'm going to be trying that out so things might be a little different.**_

|\|

Flying vehicles are a not exactly a new thing or restricted to the rich, so while Ruby has flown in bullheads before, the airship she was taking to Beacon was certainly something a little bit different. There were several large windows to look out of at the city of Vale, seats placed in front of said windows and holographic lights. Ruby was sitting at one of the window seats, looking out at the city. It looked so small and insignificant so far up high. Looking away from the window, she looks at the people seeking to become huntsmen and huntresses. Ruby is a little surprised at the wide diversity of humans and faunus, however it's clear that there is less faunus than humans here.

A few people seem to stick out to Ruby, the first being a girl with black hair and yellow eyes. The girl has some kind of rectangular sword on her back, with what appears to disconnect into something else, maybe a gun? She is wearing a black bow but after a few minutes of discreet observation, Ruby comes to the conclusion that the girl may be a faunus, given her reactions to people looking at her, her slight frown when a group of armoured guys nearby start insulting faunus without any care.

While Ruby may be a criminal, she isn't racist and believes that humans really shouldn't hate faunus since ' _they are different and different is bad'_. Honestly, Ruby thought it was funny how people go on about the White Fang and their terrorist acts when they do it since humans ridicule them and discriminate against them.

The second person that she notices is some girl with white hair and obviously an expensive dress with some kind of jacket, Ruby lacking the knowledge or care to know what it was called. What stands out to Ruby is her cold, calculating demeanour and a scar across her left eye. She has a rapier on her hip that has a revolver's chamber in the hilt. A few seconds pass as Ruby tries to work out who she is when a combination of her more predominate traits link together. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

Roman had educated her years ago about bigger businesses like the SDC and the people that ran them since they had LOTS of power at their disposal. They had stolen dust from the SDC before and since knowledge is power, it would be handy to know who was a higher up in case they needed to do something like blackmail them and how they were likely to react. Ruby made a mental note to make sure that the heiress didn't know she had stolen from her company, that wouldn't end well.

A few other people stood out a little, like that hyper energetic girl that looked like she had a grenade launcher on her back, a blond guy in a little armour that looked like he was going to be sick, a quiet guy in a green coat that the hyper girl seemed to be talking to. Ruby watches as a news report starts on a holographic TV. The news report guy, Cyril, started talking about the robbery that Ruby and Roman had orchestrated to get her into Beacon, how Roman was still at large for people to tell police if they had information. It cut over to the known reporter, Lisa Lavender, who became talking about how White Fang disrupted a peaceful protest. Before she could continue talking about the recent attacks by the White Fang, the TV cut from the news to the professor, Glynda Goodwitch.

She gave a basic welcome and run down on what they will be doing at their time at Beacon. Ruby giggled at how Goodwitch had said everything, knowing it was probably a recording. As people started looking out the windows to get a better look at Beacon Academy, the blond guy from before looked like he was going to vomit.

Which he did, all over some really long, blond haired girl's boots.

Wait...long blond hair?

|/|

Yang was typically a nice, chill person but right now, she was pretty annoyed. Her reason? Vomit on her shoes. The culprit? Some guy with airsickness. Walking away from the guy before she lost her temper and killed him, she went to the airship's on-board toilet and tried to clean as much puke off as she could. Back in the main cabin of the ship, she looked out a window at Beacon, taking in the sight. Yang had a few friends also going to Beacon, but honestly? Yang wanted to meet some new people during her time at Beacon, make new friends to annoy and joke with.

Looking around at the people near here, she caught a glimpse of some long red item. It had looked familiar to Yang, but she lost sight of it before she could even get up. As the ship started to descend to land at Beacon, Yang got up and started to move to the exit, Vomit Boy already waiting there looking sick again.

|/|

Ruby watched Yang leave the airship before she got out herself. Now would not be the best time to meet up with her yet. Moving around quickly to avoid the girl, Ruby accidentally walked into a trolley with a lot of cases on it. Getting up, Ruby watched as the Schnee heiress walked up to her, looking quite unhappy.

"What are you doing!?" Weiss asked her, a look that said she was more concerned about her property than Ruby.

"Ugh, sorry about that..." Ruby apologises to her, picking a few cases up and putting them back on the trolley. One of them is taken by Weiss, who checks the dust vials inside it.

"Don't you know what this is? This is dust, mined and purified at the Schnee quarry!" Weiss lectures to Ruby, pulling out a burn dust vial and inspects it for cracks. "You do know what dust is don't you?" Weiss questions Ruby, who nods her head. While Weiss inspects the vial, some dust leaks out in a cloud that drifts over to Ruby who is putting all the cases back on the trolley. Sniffing some of the dust, Ruby feels a sneeze coming. Getting up, she sniffs for a second before sneezing, making the dust explode on both of the girls. The vial carried by Weiss flies off and while the two girls are unharmed, protected by their Aura's, they are briefly covered in ash.

A moment passes as the ash is blow off of them. "You idiot! You could have blown us up!" Weiss yells at Ruby, before going on a little rant. Once she finishes, Ruby looks at her.

"I'm really sorry about that..." Ruby apologises again to her. She didn't even notice the dust when she sneezed. It was an accident!

"Ugh you dolt, what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you a few years too young to be here?" Weiss questions Ruby, noticing that she is a few years younger than herself.

"Uh, I was invited to be here by the Headmaster." Ruby explains to her, knowing that she probably won't believe her. Lo and behold, Weiss looks at her in disbelief.

"I doubt it. This isn't some combat school, here we fight monsters so watch where you're going!" Weiss tells Ruby, scowling at her rather cruelly. She turns her head upwards and away from Ruby, as if to say she is above her.

"I said I was sorry OK little miss princess!" Ruby retorts back, getting angry at her attitude. Neither of them notice a girl walk up to them with Weiss' dust vial until she speaks.

"Actually, she's an heiress, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, biggest producer of Dust." the black-haired girl Ruby believes may be a faunus says to them. Weiss smirks at the girl's acknowledgement of who she is.

"Hmph, finally some recognition." Weiss says with a superior tone. She quickly loses it as the girl goes on to talk about the SDC having questionable business partners and controversial work conditions. "How dare...the nerve of..." Weiss stammers to Ruby's delight, giggling lightly. Weiss takes the vial off the girl and walks off.

|/|

Ruby shouts out to her, "I'll make it up to you!" before she sighs. Looking over at the possible faunus girl, Ruby notice she has already left. Sighing again, Ruby walks off to the hall where the first years are meant to meet. As she is going there, the guy from the airship that vomited walks up to her.

"Hey, so any idea where we are meant to go?" the guy asks. He's about average height, blond and is wearing a little bit of plate armour over his jeans and jumper. He has a sheath attached to his belt, with a sword inside it. Ruby points at a building of to the left. There are still quite a few people heading inside, the black-haired girl and the Schnee both only just going inside. "Oh, right I see. Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. What's your name?"

Ruby look at him and giggles at him. "My name's Ruby." A moment passes awkwardly. "So... what does your sword do?" Ruby asks him, trying make it less awkward for the two of them.

Jaune pulls his sheath off. "It's a family heirloom, the sheath turns into a shield for me. My great grandfather used it in the war." Ruby can tell he doesn't seem to be very impressive with it.

"Well that can be useful for you, means you don't need a separate sheath or shield." Ruby reassures him. Jaune looks a bit grateful that someone thinks it's not that bad. As they enter the hall, Ruby looks at him and says, "Well I'll see you around then Jaune." And as she walks off to take a seat, she hears him mutter to himself about finding a nice quirky person to talk to, making Ruby giggle.

Walking to take a seat, Ruby suddenly feels someone grab her shoulder. Turning quickly and raising a fist, Ruby quietly swears at herself for not noticing.

"Hey Ruby, remember me? I thought I saw your cape on the airship!"

|/|

Yang watched the shocked look on Ruby's face both escalate and calm down at the same time. She had seen her leave the airship and waited for her to enter the hall for Yang to surprise her. It seemed her plan worked perfectly. "So, how are you? I haven't seen you since we bet up Junior and his thugs."

"Uh yeah well um, my dad needed some help with some things so uh yeah, busy helping him." Ruby tells Yang. Yang looks at Ruby, with her red cape and gun scythe on her back, black top and combat skirt. Yang just realised that she only looks 15.

"Hey how old are you? You look 15 but you need to be 17 to apply to Beacon." Yang asks her. Ruby opens her mouth to speak, but seems to have second thoughts on what to say. She sighs loudly.

"The headmaster invited me to Beacon two years early since I got into a fight with Roman Torchwick and Miss Goodwitch came and helped me after he started to escape. But he did get away on a bullhead." Ruby quietly and quickly explains to Yang. Apparently Torchwick was a huntsman trainee at Beacon but left in his third year. So, Yang could see why they would offer her to come here early. She must certainly have the combat skills to get in if she bet Torchwick.

"Cool, you must be really skilled then eh? It would cool to see if we get in the same team." Yang tells her friend. Ruby nods her head nervously at Yang's remark. Before Yang can say anymore, Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy comes onto the stage to address the first years.

|/|

One long and honest strange speech from the headmaster later, Miss Goodwitch tells them that they will stay in the ballroom tonight and initiation is tomorrow and cryptically telling them to "Be Ready", and dismisses them. Yang says to her new friend, "You know, he seemed kinda...off."

Ruby nods her head and says, "Yeah, it's almost like he wasn't even there." To Yang? Ruby seems to be wondering about what was up with the headmaster, but in truth, Ruby is very worried. Maybe he found out that she was related to Torchwick, or something else. Shaking her head, Ruby remembers the words her dad told her, that she should try and make friends and enjoy herself as she spent her time there.

With that in mind, Ruby and Yang both left the hall together as they went to the ballroom to get somewhere to sleep.

|/|

 ** _That Night..._**

Qrow liked to finish missions that Oz gave him quickly and make his way back casually, taking his time to do whatever he wanted. Except this time, Oz had someone he wanted Qrow to train, claiming that they had a scythe too and was good with it...and might be related to Summer.

It was years ago, but Qrow never forgot her death. When he, along with a small police force found her, he was pissed. Oz's little faction all agreed that Summer was likely murdered by one of Salem's pawns, so Qrow spent the last few years looking for the people or person responsible for her murder, to no avail. So, after all this time, the first fresh leak of possible information about Summer shows up and Qrow is determined to find out if she knows anything.

Arriving at Beacon, Qrow flies into the ballroom via an open window in the balcony. Looking at the picture Oz supplied him, he quickly spots this 'Ruby' girl. She looks like Summer a bit, same hair colour, has a red cape she just finished neatly folding. But she stands out with her silver eyes. Silver eyes, a rare ability. Looking around, Qrow is rather surprised when he notices that she's talking with Yang. He knows his niece is very open but considering that this is likely the first time they have met, it's a little ironic that someone that could possibly have info about Yang's step mum is friends with her already.

Staring down at them from the shadows, he watches as the girl looks up at his direction. Even though he is in pitch darkness up here, he gets a feeling she know she is being watched.

|/|

Ruby gets a nagging feeling in the back of her head when she's being watched. Turning around, she looks up and sees a slight silhouette on the balcony above them. She can only watch it for a few seconds as it seems to realise she sees whoever is there and disappears. Frowning briefly, Ruby looks away as she lies downs and grabs her scroll, messaging her dad that she's in Beacon, made two friends and may have someone watching her. Roman messages back 'I'll have Neo look into it.'. Smiling to herself, she looks up and the first thing she sees is Yang looking down at her.

"Hey, who are you talking to?" Yang questions her, Ruby jumping in surprise.

"AH! YANG DON'T DO THAT!" Ruby shouts before acknowledging her question. "I was messaging my dad to tell him I'm got here no issues." Yang shrugs, accepting what she said. Looking around notices that Jaune is still in the clothes he was wearing today, talking to a red-haired girl wearing a pair of blood red flannel pyjamas. She has a circlet on her head that looks golden and nearby her is a sword and shield combo, the sword looks like a short sword of Mistral design and coloured red and gold while a golden round shield with elaborate markings on it makes up the other part of the combo.

It looks like Jaune has made a friend other than Ruby since the girl starts laughing at something he has said. Looking in a different direction, Ruby sees the black-haired girl from earlier today reading a book. Getting up, she walks over to her. "Hey, you're that girl from earlier, I didn't get to ask you your name."

The girl looks up from her book and says shortly, "Blake." Ruby nods her head and waits for her to say something else. An awkward moment passes as the girl reads her book and Ruby stands there.

"Weeell, it was nice to meet you Blake, see you around?" Ruby awkwardly says to the girl. Who doesn't react and continues reading her book. Walking back to her spot, she notices Yang talking to someone in front of her, but Ruby can't see who. Walking around to see who it is, Ruby becomes face to face with Weiss Schnee.

""Not you again!"" the girls say in sync, much to Yang's confusion.

Weiss is the first to say something, "What are you doing here, are you trying to follow me?" to which Yang is about to explain but is cut off by Ruby.

"I'm sleeping right here, what are you doing here talking to my friend?" Ruby complains and right as Yang is about to tell Ruby what Weiss was doing, Jaune comes over with the redhead girl.

"Hey Ruby, have you met Pyrrha yet?" Jaune asks his friend, the girl called Pyrrha says to the three girls politely, "Hello there."

Yang, tired of everyone cutting her off, yells at them all, "Shut it! Let me talk already!" Her eyes have turned red as she says this. "Ruby, Weiss just wanted me to give her something that got knocked over here. Weiss, I am friends with Ruby and we are hanging out together here. Hello Pyrrha, Vomit Boy."

Jaune waits a few seconds to let Yang calm down before saying, "Actually my name is Jaune, Jaune Arc.

|/|

Ten minutes later, everyone is sleeping soundly.

Well not everyone.

Getting out of bed and grabbing Crescent Rose, Ruby sneaks past some sleeping people as she goes outside the ballroom. Stopping only briefly so that one of the professors, a rather fat older man with a very big moustache, looks away at the perfect time for her to use her semblance to speed past him. He was probably meant to stop students from leaving in the night. Making her way to a cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest, she waits there for little for Neo to arrive. When she does, Ruby hugs her.

"Hey sis, how are you?" Ruby asks her pseudo sister, who merely shrugs in return. "So, are we doing any practise tonight are you just saying hi?" Ruby asks. Neo pulls out her Umbrella, holding it on her shoulder. Ruby smiles, and pulls out her weapon, extending it to its full scythe form. Ruby knows that Neo is a very skilled fighter and has basically no chance of beating her, but she is fun to practise with. After a moment passes, Ruby fires her gun to start the fight, launching her flying at Neo, who blocks it with ease, and kicks Ruby back. Swing her umbrella around, she opens it and takes a seat on a log nearby, smiling at Ruby. Accepting her challenge, Ruby charges at Neo, swing her scythe behind her as they start their friendly dual.

|/|

Neo teleports them back to their house. Roman is out, dealing with Cinder and her goons, so Ruby takes her time to have a shower before getting Neo to take her back to Beacon. Ruby waves good bye to Neo and sneaks back into the ballroom, this time having to sneak past Miss Goodwitch, who almost sees her, but a mix of being tired, darkness and Ruby's semblance allows her to get by unseen. As soon as Ruby lies down, she falls asleep. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.

 _ **Author's Note: And that's it for Chapter 6.**_

 ** _Next Chapter will feature some OC's my brother thought up. They won't have much importance story wise, I just feel like including them and if they get enough love, I might make a one-shot or a short story about them if that is wanted._**


	7. Chapter 7: The Initiation

_**Author's Note: Thanks to Gh0st495 for mentioning that I forgot to give Ruby a false surname while in Beacon. Ruby's surname is Rose, but has it briefly changed to ensure her**_ _ **infiltration goes smoothly**_ _ **. I'll probably not be able to update over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, family gathering though I get some time to myself to write a bit. Also, I found how to do that bloody line.**_

* * *

The Sun was shining, Birds singing. On days like this, the kids at Beacon...

Woke up to someone yelling, "It's Morning, It's Morning, It's Morning, iiiitt's Moooorning!"

Ruby yawned as she sat up. She saw that hyperactive girl from yesterday was running around the same guy in the tailcoat, talking about how it was morning. How much sugar did that girl consume? Ruby couldn't help but smirk as a guy in a green brimmed hat with one side folded up in military style walked up behind the girl.

"Thank you for lettin' us know it's 7 in the morning." He said to the girl before wondering off to the cafeteria. Ruby giggled at what he had said before getting up herself. Looking over at her friend, she saw that Yang was only just waking up even after that racket.

"Good morning." Ruby says to Yang, who yawns and stretches her arms. Ruby gets her usual clothes and goes to get dress somewhere a bit more private.

* * *

Ruby watched as everyone started getting out weapons and equipment for initiation. There was a diverse selection, from all kinds of weapons. Yang had her two bracers she called Ember Celcia, Jaune had his sword, Croceas Mors, Pyrrha's weapons were called Milo and Akouo ((I don't know how to do symbols)). A few other people noticed to have interesting or cool weapons, like the three from that morning. The girl's grenade launcher also turned into a big two-handed hammer. The tailcoat guy had a pair of machine pistols with knives attached to them for CQC and the last guy had a rugged shotgun that seemed to work fine and a knife that seems to be able to be imbued with dust. Blake's sword was also a handgun and appeared to in fact have another sword inside it, the rectangular blade also being a sheath.

Ruby casually turned around when she walked into someone. She moved quickly to avoid being squished by a _MASSIVE_ shoulder mounted weapon. The girl carrying it seemed to have no trouble keeping her grip on it. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you." she says to Ruby.

Looking at her, the first thing Ruby notices is her white furry ears that look like an arctic fox's. She also has a little fur on her neck. She is also very tall, easily towering over Ruby. Wearing a modified miko outfit that is predominately white and a few strips of red, a black skirt, thigh high stockings and heeled shoes. She also has long brown hair. The girl seems to be an overly nice person as she looks like she might have hurt Ruby anyway.

"It's ok, I'm fine. What's your name? Mine's Ruby." Ruby politely says to the girl.

Looking down a little at Ruby, she says, "My name is Olivia White, I'm sorry about almost squishing you." Ruby looks at her weapon and she can only look in awe of it. It has a basic shape of a 'U' sideways, the top extended out backwards a bit. The top features a barrel that looks like it's made to shoot rockets, but Ruby can't find any hint of what it shoots. On each side of it, are two small cannons located above Olivia's head, in line with the main barrel. Looking at it, Ruby wonders how on earth can she carry it.

"Oh, are you looking at my weapon?" Olivia asks, to which Ruby silently nods. "Well, this is the Wave Mk.2, it is a railgun with two 20mm atlesian turrets located on it. It was made by my mother and the man she works with. I am the only one capable of using it via my semblance, the control of gravity near me within a metre." Olivia looks at Ruby a little sheepishly, "I added the turrets myself since I wanted a more available option. The railgun takes some time to charge between shots."

Ruby nods at her, thinking about how make the weapon better in some way, "Well, that is really cool, I guess I'll see you later then?" Ruby says to Olivia, who smiles and nods before walking away.

* * *

Ruby was about to leave when she saw Jaune stuck in a cube of ice, Pyrrha looking at it and appeared to be shaking, while Yang was just chuckling and shaking her head. Walking over, Jaune saw her and yelled out, "Ruby! Little help please, these two just won't stop laughing!" As Ruby comes closer she can see that they are both laughing at his predicament. The guy with the military hat popped up behind Jaune, with a smirk.

"Jaune here decided to try and get it on with that Schnee chick and try to organise teamin' with her. So, she froze him. You could say he's idea got a _cold reception_." he says, earning a fresh round of laughter from Pyrrha and Yang. "Yeah so here I am, tryin' to melt the ice with Irwin here while these two watch." Dennis briefly shows Ruby his knife, it's blade red from burn dust and quickly sticks it back into the ice cube.

They wait for a few more minutes for Jaune to thaw, while Dennis and Yang keep making puns at Jaune's expense, making Pyrrha and Ruby laugh more and more.

* * *

Arriving at the cliff that Ruby had her little dual with Neo, Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were waiting for them and directed them onto several launch pads. Ozpin gave them instructions of what to do: Go to the Forest Temple and take one of the Relics there, then make their way back to the cliff. He also warned them to kill any grimm they encounter without hesitation. Looking at them with a smirk, he says to them, "Now I know you have heard about the selection of teams, so you want to pick someone you can work well with. On that note, the first person you lay eyes on is your partner for the rest of your time here."

Ruby sees a wide array of reactions from what was said; Jaune gulps, Yang smiles at her with a silly expression, Pyrrha continues to look professional, the hyper girl called Nora says to the tailcoat guy, Ren, "See? I told you!", Dennis casually spins his knife around his fingers, Olivia politely smiles and adjusts her grip on the Wave Mk.2, Weiss frowns slightly but otherwise maintains a professional demeanour and Blake looks uncaring. Ruby herself knew this as part of her education from her dad, so she smiles casually at Yang.

Giving Professor Goodwitch a hand gesture, she beings sending students rocketing into the Emerald Forest, Dennis is first, followed by Olivia and a few other students.

Yang pulled out a pair of aviators and put them on as she got launched, Ruby braced herself as she felt her launch pad click mechanically. Before she was launched, she briefly heard Jaune talking to Ozpin about landing strategies. Ruby has a feeling that if Jaune doesn't even know what a landing strategy is, he may not be who he claims, but she can't think more about this as she is launched into the air. Shortly following her is Jaune, who is screaming on his way down. Mid-flight Ruby saw what appeared to be a destroyed temple. Having her bearings, Ruby prepares to land.

Firing twice to slow herself down, Ruby swung her scythe around a tree, spinning around it before landing on the ground. Carefully and quickly checking her surroundings, Ruby proceeds to go towards where she saw the jungle temple. As she jogs there at a steady pace, Ruby remembers the words of Ozpin, that the first person they see will be their partner. Honestly, Ruby doesn't really mind who she is teamed with. Yang would be fun as a teammate, Jaune didn't seem like the kind who could fight well but he seemed to be very determined to be here, Pyrrha was apparently a renowned fighter in Mistral so having her would be very advantageous, that girl Nora and her friend Ren don't seem like much, but Ruby didn't doubt they were probably rather skilled to be here, Blake was a wildcard, Ruby had no idea what to think of her but there is more to her than it seemed. Thinking about who would be best for her to team with practically, Ruby didn't notice the person in front of her until she ran into them.

"Ugh, sorry about that..." Ruby says, getting up and rubbing her head where she knocked it against the other persons skull. Offering a hand for them, Ruby pulls them up from where they were lying down.

It was the one person she forgot...

Weiss Schnee.

"Oh, you again." Weiss says to Ruby, clearly somewhat displeased by her new teammate. She looks at Ruby before muttering to herself, "Well it could be worse. Come on then, this does not make us friends though."

Ruby watches as Weiss walks off, Ruby follows her shortly. A few seconds pass when they hear someone struggling, to which they see Jaune, hang on the tree by a spear that looks like Pyrrha's. Jaune gives them an embarrassed chuckle as he tries to pull the spear lodged into the tree out. Weiss, seeing who it is, walks back the way they came.

"Sorry Jaune!" Ruby shouts to him before she leaves to tell Weiss where they need to go.

* * *

 _Jaune watched as Ruby left him stuck in the tree. As he tried to pull Pyrrha's spear out, another pair showed up, that Dennis guy and a girl who had a positively massive cannon on her shoulder, WITH ONE ARM!_

 _"Damn mate, stuck again?" Dennis says to Jaune, with a raised eyebrow. "Well, you just hang in there, I'm sure that Pyrrha chick's gonna come get'cha. Liv, let's go, temples this way." The girl looked like she wanted to help, but couldn't fault that Pyrrha was likely coming to help anyway. Leaving him like Ruby and Weiss did, Jaune stops struggling and sighs._

 _"So, still looking for a teammate?" he looks up at Pyrrha, who is standing there with a mischievous smile._

 _"Very funny Pyrrha. Get me down please." Jaune says to her with a huff._

* * *

Walking through the Emerald Forest with Weiss wasn't very hard. They heard gunfire and fighting every so often, but so far had managed to not have to engage any Grimm. Ruby knew she would have little trouble with the average grimm, Roman had taught her how to defend herself when she first built Crescent Rose, so Ruby spent her time observing Weiss. She was dress in the same outfit from the other day, rapier at her side. One skill that Neo had taught her was to observe one's weapon and fighting style to find exploitable flaws. Weiss's use of a rapier meant she was probably trained like a fencer, since her weapon had a thin blade and wasn't made for hacking or slashing. The revolver cylinder in the hilt was loaded with dust, making that her ranged weapon choice. Dust can be very useful, depending on how you use it, but Ruby guesses that Weiss may rely on Dust to give her an advantage against enemies with heavy weapons that her rapier wouldn't be able to handle alone.

Interestingly, when her dad had been teaching her about the more powerful people on Remnant, the Schnees had a hereditary semblance, rather rare, that allowed them to make special glyphs that allowed them to do a myriad of different things, from powering allies to boosting one's speed. However, one powerful but well-hidden ability that Roman had to pay much to get the information for was that they could 'summon' defeated enemies. Ruby didn't exactly know what this meant, but Ruby wondered if Weiss could do this.

As Ruby spent her time coming up with ways to counter Weiss, Weiss herself was discreetly examining what she knew of Ruby. Weiss admittedly did not know much about her yet, other than her weapon of choice was a scythe/sniper rifle, was somewhat childish and seemed very confident...for a 15 year old. Weiss figured that she should probably find out how Ruby got into the prestigious school.

"So then, if we are going to be a team, I want to know how you entered Beacon." Weiss suddenly says to Ruby, who doesn't flinch at Weiss's question. Looking over at her, Ruby starts explaining how she ended up coming to Beacon, how she deat the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick and got him to retreat after he tried robbing a dust store. Weiss looked her in disbelief. Torchwick had been stealing Schnee wares for a long time now and had proven himself to be a rather dangerous individual. For Ruby to have beaten him would have either been luck or some other detriment to the thief. But Weiss holds her tongue when she mentions that the headmaster and Professor Goodwitch both saw what happened.

"Well, if they decided to let you enter Beacon early, I guess I'll have to accept it." Weiss says quietly, mostly to herself however Ruby's experienced ears hear what she said. Weiss watches a bird, a crow to be precise, fly past them. "Well then, I guess we had better hurry to..." Weiss starts say to Ruby, but is silenced when Ruby had stopped and has her hand on her weapon. "We are being followed." Ruby says to her teammate, extending Crescent Rose into its scythe form. Weiss, noticing the serious tone the normally happy girl has, draws her rapier as well.

Ruby suddenly turns 180 degrees and fires her gun into a bush and a loud yelp is heard, followed by a mad rush of activity around them. A large pack of Beowolves appears from their hiding places, surrounding the girls. Both of them prepare themselves for the coming fight. "Do you have much ice dust?" Ruby asks Weiss, who nods in confirmation. "Ok, freeze the larger ones, then take out the smaller ones before they have a chance to break the ice." Weiss nods once more, Ruby's plan making logical sense.

* * *

 _Qrow watched as the Schnee froze most the larger Beowolves like Ruby had instructed. They then started cutting up the smaller ones, they were lacking much in the defensive area, with a distinct lack of armoured plates that older grimm had. These wolves were barely five years old, judging by their size. The Schnee was very much like her sister, Winter, with that rapier. Qrow had a certain...disliking...of most Schnees, they tended to act superior to everyone and where rather obnoxious. Carlia Schnee, Winter and Weiss's mother, was very polite to everyone she met, the rest of them however were just plain annoying._

 _Watching Ruby, he could see why Oz wanted him to train her. Ruby swung her scythe around her skilfully chopping up two beowolves that tried acting in sync. Firing her scythe behind her, headshots another one and using the moment from the bullet to speed herself forwards, she kicks one of the larger ones that has broken free of the ice right in the face. Pushing of its head, Ruby plants the scythe into the ground, swings it so the gun is aimed at it's head and fires again. She dodges claws from another one, she swings her scythe at it, slicing its head off. Firing her weapon once more, she blocks a set of claws trying to swipe at Schnee, who turns around and stabs in in the head, over Ruby's scythe. Schnee uses her glyph to make her teammate gain a temporary speed boost, who starts running, spinning like a spin top and cutting Beowolve limbs of with ease._

 _Qrow watches as they mop up the last of the wolves. He can tell Ruby has a natural skill with the scythe, and is very proficient with it. She has a different way of fighting, using her guns momentum to allow her to swing her scythe with greater velocity. Qrow smiles to himself, glad the Oz finally has found someone that should be interesting to train and also may have intel about Summer. He watches her cheer to herself after as the two girls walk off towards the ruins._

* * *

Making their way to the forest temple, Ruby and Weiss soon arrived there. They found several chess pieces inside the temple, a good amount had already been taken by the other students.

"Well, I assume we need to take one of these with us." Weiss says to her teammate. Ruby notices that Weiss sounds kinder then before, perhaps she is impressed by how well they took down the beowolves?

"Seems so. So, what should we take?" Ruby replies. As they look over them, Yang shows up with, surprisingly enough, Blake in tow.

"Hiya, Ruby, Weiss-cream." Yang greets the two girls. Weiss gives her an indignant "Hey!" at Yang's nickname. "So, do we need to take one of these?" Yang asks.

Ruby nods, "Think so." She notices that there is two of every kind of piece. Two white rooks, two black bishops. Perhaps teams are formed based on who takes which set. Ruby watches as Yang picks up the white horse.

"How about a cute little horsey?" Yang shouts over to her partner. Blake shrugs, obviously not to concerned. Ruby grabs the other white horse, showing to Weiss. Weiss seems to have figured it out too and nods.

As they get ready to move out, a large Ursa starts running at the temple, straight for them. Ruby quickly aims at it; however it collapses right in front of them. Nora and Ren appear from behind it. It seems that they had _rode it there._ Nora starts looking at her dead Ursa, looking a little sad. "Awww, I think I broke it." Nora says with a frown.

Ren gets up, taking deep breathes of exhaustion. "Nora, we are NOT doing that again." Ren says to his childhood friend. Who promptly ignores him, too busy looking at the chess pieces. She grabs the white rook and holds it above her, before singing about her 'being the queen of the castle' to which Ren shouts at her, "NORA!". Nora casually says, "Coming Ren!" like she never got yelled at. She obviously has a few screws loose.

Ruby thinks that there is no way they can get interrupted again. Right?

Wrong.

Ruby spies Jaune and Pyrrha sprinting towards them, being chased by a Deathstalker.

Yep. jinxed it.

Ruby grabs the white rook piece for Jaune and Pyrrha as they are getting closer. Weiss fires off a ice crystal, freezing the Deathstalker's legs, giving Jaune and Pyrrha enough time to get to them. Ruby hands them the rook. "So yeah, I might have pissed of a Deathstalker..." Jaune admits to them when they hear the sound of a large Nevermore flying towards them. "As we were running away from _that_." Jaune finishes.

One collective sigh and face palm later, Ruby tells the group, "Well, we don't have to fight them, we can just get back to the cliff and the teachers can help us kill them." Looking around her little group, Ruby can see that they collectively agree.

Jaune says, "Sounds like a plan, run and live. Hey Weiss, can you try and slow down the Nevermore a little?"

"Can I?" Weiss says arrogantly, to which Jaune seems to go and ask if she can. "Of Course, I can!" She says again.

The group starts running, Weiss pauses briefly on a hill, sending several large icicles at the Nevermore, which causes it to move away, trying to avoid being hit. The Deathstalker breaks free of its restraints, and begins chasing them again.

* * *

They make their way to the cliff, the Nevermore and Deathstalker following them. Ruby yells to Weiss and Nora, "Slow them down so we can get across!" Weiss turns around and, using her glyphs, she freezes the ground in front of the Deathstalker, making it trip and slide into some ruins. Nora pulls out Magnhild, firing at the Nevermore like an AA battery, causing it to fly away, out of her line of sight. Weiss grabs Nora and uses her glyphs to catch up to the group. The Nevermore flies at them, trying to break the bridge separating them and the cliff face. Jaune, seeing it coming, yells out, "Yang, Pyrrha, the Nevermore's back!" he points it out for them. Yang jumps down off the bridge, using her Ember Celica to fly out and hit it in the face. Hard. Prying its mouth open, Yang fires shot after shot into it.

"I. WILL. COOK. YOUR. INSIDES!" Yang yells with each shot. It starts to fall down, Yang back flips of it and Pyrrha, using her semblance subtly, makes Yang fly back far enough that she lands on the bridge. The Nevermore crashes into the cliff face, stunned.

Ruby looks at Blake, "Blake hook your whip to these pillars, Weiss make a glyph behind me!" Ruby instructs them, as she extends Crescent Rose and uses Blake's whip as a massive ballista. Weiss, aiming Ruby so she will hit the Nevermore's neck, looks at her.

"This is a crazy plan." Weiss states, to which Ruby smirks before yelling, "NOW!". She is launched forwards, her scythe making contact with the Nevermore's neck. Ruby begins firing behind her, running _up a cliff_. Weiss summons enough glpyhs so that Ruby won't fall and as soon as she reaches the top, she ends up taking Nevermore's head off. She stands up there as they see her complete her feat.

Jaune, having grabbed Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, doesn't notice this as they are busy dealing with the Deathstalker at the front of the bridge. Jaune notices that it's stinger is loosely hanging on. Pyrrha engages it first, deflecting one of its massive pincers with her shield. Jaune bashes the other away with his own shield. They both dodge back, letting Nora run at it and smash its head with Magnhild. Ren, runs at it while it is stunned by Nora's hit. He jumps up and lands on its tail. He fires at the stinger, trying to make it break off. The Deathstalker, noticing what he is doing, flings its tail forward and Ren, not expecting this, is sent flying into the bridge behind them. Pyrrha and Jaune charge at it, Jaune blocking a pincer so Pyrrha has a chance to throw her shield at the stinger, cutting it off and causing the Deathstalker to start flailing in pain.

Pyrrha, Jaune and Nora get back as the grimm starts causing the segment of bridge under it to break apart and the Deathstalker falls to its death. However, this causes the rest of the bridge to start breaking. Jaune and co. start running as fast as they can across the breaking bridge, barely making it back. It's only now they notice that Ruby killed the Nevermore. Getting up, Jaune helps his group get up as they make their way over to others.

No one noticed the girl with pink and brown hair standing by some trees on the cliff, who was smiling at Ruby. Her scroll had recorded the whole thing.

* * *

"Dennis Jinx, Nova and Giger Nuclar and Olivia White, you four have collected the black Rook pieces. As such, you shall now be known as Team DNGO, led by Dennis Jinx." There was a respectable amount of clapping for the new team. Ruby was happy that the other two people she knew were on a team. After them were a team of 4 guys, who got the black bishop pieces. They were called Team CRDL, led by a brute of a guy called Cardin Winchester. Ruby knew that his family own several successful weapon shops in Vale and she had stolen a lot of gear from them to make her scythe.

Ozpin called up Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren. Since they had the white rook pieces, they became Team JNPR, led by, to Ruby's happy surprise, Jaune Arc. Ruby could tell that something about him was false, and he wasn't a great fighter, but Ruby knew he had nothing to do with Cinder, so she didn't mind.

Ozpin called her and the last three people up. "Ruby Roslinen, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. You four collected the white knight pieces. From this day on, you shall be known as, Team RWBY. Led by, Ruby Roslinen." Ozpin pause for a moment for the applause to die down. "It seems, this is going to be...an interesting year."

* * *

Qrow watched as the newly instated Team RWBY left for their new dorm. Ozpin walked up to him, a questioning look on the headmaster's face. "So, do you believe me now?" Ozpin asks, knowing what Qrow will say.

"Alright then, I'll train her. I'll see if I can get any intel about Summer." Qrow says to Ozpin who smiles and walks away.

* * *

Roman finishes watching his girl killing a Nevermore. He's impressed at her achievement and proud of her. But she did stand out a quite a lot from that.

"Neo, I need you keep watching her, this means she should be fine, but she might stand out to Cinder when she goes into the school. Make sure that she stays safe."

Neo nods at Roman in confirmation.

* * *

 ** _I'd just like to point out that a few characters will appear a little OOC such as Weiss's interactions with Ruby. Ruby is more mature then in Canon and thus means Weiss thinks a little more of her. The hat Dennis the OC wears is the same hat worn by the Australian Military if you want a better idea of it._**

 ** _I was going to forget the fight here, but figured I'll change it a bit when I couldn't think of a decent way to skip over it._**

 ** _If anyone like the OC Team DNGO, I am willing to add them into the story ever so often, though they won't have any main story relevance. Or I might make a oneshot for them. Something like that._**

 ** _Until next time, AD_**


	8. Chapter 8: Day One

_**Author's Note: Well I hope you all had a great New Years and Christmas if you do it. 2018, we are here. Also in this there is a little Volume 5 spoiler if you haven't watched to about episode 10 or so. I doubt that no one has watched any of Volume 5 but if you haven't? Go and watch it so I don't spoil nothing for you.**_

 _ **Edit: I had to change some errors.**_

* * *

Walking away from the amphitheatre, Ruby and her new team made their way, along with team JNPR, to the dorms. Everyone was tired but exhilarated that they had made it into Beacon. Departing from JNPR, whose room was opposite of RWBY's, said team walked into their room and all of them proceeded to crash onto their beds and fall asleep almost immediately.

A few minutes past as Ruby makes sure her teammates are actually sleeping. Stepping into their room's shower, she turned her scroll on and sent her dad images she discreetly took of her teammates and their names with the attached message, 'can you get some info on these people?' A moment passes before Roman replies, 'Give me a few days Red' Ruby withheld a giggle at her childhood nickname, seeing how her father had used it during her fight for maximum irony. Going back into her dorm's 'main' room, she got back into bed without making a sound.

* * *

 _Cinder was sitting with Emerald in a luxurious apartment, politely given to them by Torchwick, when her other subordinate walked in the room._

 _"Well, Leonardo has finished with the transcripts, we're good to go boss." Mercury says nonchalantly to the women sitting on a pair of couches. He pulled a chair out from a nearby table, sitting on it with the back in front of him. "Also, Torchwick has gotten wind of a major Schnee transport in a few weeks, so he's been planning that and will be busy for a bit." he finished his little report to Cinder._

 _Cinder has her little smile on her face that just screams danger. "And what about the girl?" she asks. Mercury can only put his hand on his neck, clearly not wanting to say something about it._

 _"Yeah, well uh..." Mercury stalls, "She MIGHT have been invited to Beacon by Ozpin after what happened." Cinder merely shrugs._

 _"No matter. She will not change anything." is all Cinder can say about this revelation._

* * *

 _ **That Morning**_

Ruby woke up around 5:30, yawning as she noticed her team was still asleep. She was a thief, she had grown up waking early in the morning. Going into the dorm's shower, she takes a quick shower and gets changed into her Beacon uniform. Clipping her cape to jacket without a second thought, she walks out of the bathroom. It's 5:57 and Blake has already woken up and waiting for Ruby. She gives Ruby a small good morning before disappearing into the bathroom. Ruby smiles before she sits on her bed, scroll in hand. It is showing a list of microscopic cameras she stole from an Atlas private security agency a few years ago. Tapping on camera 3, Ruby can see Blake in the bathroom as she gets undressed to have a shower.

No, Ruby doesn't have any interest in her, but smirks as she watches the girl take off her bow, showing black cat ears. She can only be pleased that she predicted her teammate was a Faunus. Faunus do get a lot of hatred from humans and Ruby can understand why she doesn't want anyone to know about her race, but Ruby feels that she should ask her about telling her other teammates too. Switching her scroll off her surveillance network, Ruby quietly pulls the small suitcase she brought with her to Beacon. She had packed light in case she needed to get out, a few pairs of clothes, her multi tool, gun cleaning kit and some personal items.

Waiting for her team to wake up and get ready, Ruby sat back and starts watching a cartoon on her scroll. Yang soon woke up, moving directly to the unoccupied shower and closing the door. Blake was already out and reading a book from a little stash of them she had, the one in her hand called ' _Ninja's of Love',_ Ruby can only sigh in shame at her reading choices.

7:21, everyone is in uniform and prepared. Except Weiss who is still sleeping in her bed, rather adorably to be honest. Yang looks at her teammates, "Well then, who's up for waking up Ice Queen?" She says with a smirk.

Moving next to the sleeping Schnee, Ruby pulls out a whistle she nicked from a teacher with bright green, spiky hair. Taking a deep breath, she blows hard on it, making a very shrill whistle and waking Weiss up quickly. "Good Moooorrnnning Weiss!" Ruby shouts at her as Weiss falls off her bed. "Everyone else is ready, time to get up!"

Weiss looks over to see her team has already woke and gotten dressed. She can only help but be a little embarrassed and angry that she slept in. Scowling, Weiss walks off to the bathroom, like her team before her already. 30 minutes later, she walks out in her school uniform.

Ruby is standing by the door, Yang and Blake sitting on nearby chairs. "Well then, now your awake, we can start working on decorating our room." Ruby declares to WBY. "We have we have an hour and 10 minutes before classes start at 9, so let's get into it!" Ruby says enthusiastically.

* * *

30 minutes later, the curtains had been trimmed by Ruby, Yang's poster of Achieve Men on the wall behind her bed, Blake and Weiss's books; different in every way, Weiss's are educational while Blake's are stories, some more than others, on shelves, tables next to the door, a picture of Forever Fall on the wall. Only problem was the beds, they kinda took a lot of space and there wasn't much left.

"Weeeell, this is a problem." Yang says rather nonchalantly. Ruby starts examining the situation and comes to two easy solutions.

"Ok team. We either chuck some of our stuff out, which I don't think anyone wants, or we replace the beds with something." Ruby explains to her team, their expressions clearly saying Option 1 wasn't going to happen. "Well then, any suggestions to replace the beds?" Ruby asks.

"Hmm, maybe replace with them with bunk beds?" Yang surprisingly says first, to which Blake nods. "It would be efficient." she rationalises. Weiss looks a little effy about it however.

"How would we get them up here from Vale? Not to mention it would be somewhat wasteful of the beds we have." Weiss counters their scheme. Ruby admits, she has a good point.

A few minutes pass before Ruby declares, "Alright then, we use anything we have and make these beds into bunks!" Weiss looks positively horrified at her suggestion, while Yang is smiling, eager to try it. Blake is being Blake. "We can put it to a vote then Weiss." Ruby tells her. 3 votes yes, 1 no.

* * *

20 minutes later, the four beds have been turned into 2 makeshift bunks. The one on the left, Weiss's and Ruby's, has Weiss on the bottom, her bed unaltered while Ruby's is somehow hanging from the roof via nails and rope. It has a canopy over it, helping it stay up. Hopefully it's stronger than it looks.

Blake's and Yang's on the other hand are much less crazy, Blake on bottom bunk and Yang on top with the help on several of Blake's thicker books, pun not intended. Examining their handiwork, Ruby checks the time, 8:43. They have 17 minutes to get ready for class and to get there. Opening their door, Ruby walks across the hall, over to JNPR's room. Knocking twice, she waits a minute before Jaune opens the door, looking tired.

"Morning Jaune, how was your sleep?" Ruby politely asks her friend. Jaune yawns loudly to himself. It appears he and his team had just woken up, judging by what little she can see past Jaune. "By the way, you have 15 minutes before class starts." Ruby mentions to the bedraggled JNPR, causing them to explode into action. Jaune is accidentally knocked over by Pyrrha as she tries to grab her weapons from behind the door.

'Oh, Sorry Jaune!" Pyrrha says to her partner, who gets up and shakes his head a little.

"It's fine Pyrrha." He says to her nicely. Ruby watches as she walks back across to her room. She gets a feeling that Pyrrha and Jaune are going to be close friends if not more, judging by their reactions. Sometimes, Ruby would be amazed by how people tend not to notice things about people. Then again, being raised a thief, by a thief and a professional teenage assassin, tends to develop traits that normal people tend to not have.

Shrugging to herself, Ruby enters her room, her team ready to go. "Alright Team RWBY! Let's finish checking we're done here for now and then get to class." Last minute preparations ensure, though thankfully there is no issues to be concerned yet. Leaving their room with 10 minutes left, JNPR gets out of their room, looking slight dishevelled compare to RWBY, but still acceptable. The two teams walk down to their first class, Grimm Studies. Ruby notices that Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch are outside Beacon Tower and watch as they go past, Miss Goodwitch is checking the time on her watch.

* * *

Grimm Studies: a class meant to teach Huntsmen and Huntresses in training about all the kinds of nasties out there. It was, quite honestly to Ruby, shocking that their teacher was the overweight man in the red jacket, Professor Port. He certainly didn't seem like that kind that would be good in a fight against Grimm, but looks can be deceiving, and Ruby had no doubt, pass her initial surprise, that he was probably making out he wasn't very dangerous, yet was indeed. After all, a Beacon teacher would have to be an outstanding Huntsman/Huntress. He didn't have a weapon on him, but a blunderbuss with an axe on its stock was mounted on the wall.

"MONSTERS! DEMONS! Prowlers of the NIGHT! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, I merely refer to them as PREY! Haha!" Professor Port says dramatically to the class, to no one's response. Ruby can only sigh in disappointment. An awkward moment passes, before he continues, "And you shall too, after you graduated from this prestigious academy." Ruby dozes off as he goes on about typical hero stuff and some story about himself, much to Weiss's displeasure that she is sleeping in class.

Ruby goes onto her scroll and checks if Neo is busy, to which it seems like she isn't. The two stepsisters start texting each other, further annoying Weiss. Giggling at a picture Neo sent her, Ruby accidentally kicks Weiss's shin, making Weiss scowl at her. Port notices this, looking at the two expectantly. Ruby hides her phone with rapid agility, not wanting it to be taking off her in case someone checks it.

Port finishes his story, before saying to the class, "Who thinks they have the traits of a Huntsman?" to which Weiss viciously holds her hand up, declaring, "I do, sir!" Port looks at her, please someone seemed to take his's story seriously.

"Good, let's find out then." He says to her, gesturing to the cage in the class. While shadows in the cage made it hard to see what was in it, the grunts and snorts sounded like a Boarbatusk. Weiss got up and left to get changed into her combat gear. Arriving back at the class, Weiss draws her rapier, and assumes a stance in front of the cage. Port had gotten the Blunderaxe and was standing next to the cage, probably to open it with the axe instead of something normal, like a key.

"Go Weiss!' Yang shouted out. Blake too shouted out to her to fight well.

"You got this!" Ruby encouraged her partner, to which Weiss merely scowls at her.

"Alright, let the match begin!" Port shouts, and hacks the lock off, and as expected, a Boarbatusk wonders out, looking pissed.

* * *

Knocking the Grimm on its back with a glyph, Weiss creates another one behind, jumps onto it and accelerates herself at the boar's stomach, killing it. Weiss takes some deep breaths as Port congratulates her. Telling the class to be vigilant and to read the assigned readings, the class beings to leave, with Weiss walking out angrily.

"What's her problem?" Jaune mutters to Ruby. Ruby looks at the leaving Weiss with a slight, concerned frown. Quickly packing her things, Ruby goes and quickly catches up with her.

"Weiss! What's the problem with you?" Ruby says at her once she is within talking distance. Weiss turns around and looks at he angrily.

"My problem? It the fact you're supposed to be a leader, yet unless we are in a dangerous situation, you are only a nuisance!" Weiss remarks to Ruby curtly. Ruby only looks at her a raised eyebrow.

"Really now? And let me guess and say that you think I don't deserve to be the Leader of the team?" Ruby questions Weiss with an authority that makes Weiss almost flinch at the sudden change of character.

"You did nothing to be made leader and quite frankly? I think Ozpin made a mistake. You act like a child when out of a confrontation, and while I have studied and trained for this while you just showed up and bet one criminal and somehow your supposed to be better than everyone else here?" Weiss rants rudely to her partner, much to Ruby's growing frustration. Ruby knew that if Weiss knew just who she was, she wouldn't think this. Then again, if she knew who she was, she would probably attack and try and arrest her.

Before Ruby can comeback with something, Weiss walks away, leaving Ruby alone in the corridor. Ruby gets a feeling of sixth sense and realises that someone is walking up behind her. Acting on instinct, Ruby draws Crescent Rose, which she carried with her all day via habit, and swiftly turns on her foot, swing her baby so that the blade will be at someone's neck or upper body, depending on height. However, her scythe is deflected by a black cane, and Ruby realises just who she almost attacked.

"Oh? Professor Ozpin? I am so sorry!" Ruby quickly apologises and collapses her scythe. The headmaster merely smiles and shrugs at Ruby's action, genuinely impressed by her reaction.

"It's alright, Miss Roslinen, it is rare that people realise that I walk up behind them and react like you did." Ozpin says kindly to the young girl, who looks concerned at what she almost did. "But never mind that. It seems your chat with Miss Schnee didn't go exactly well." He continues, much to Ruby's surprise. He been here for a while and Ruby is shocked she didn't notice him sooner. While Ruby is a very self-confident person, she can't help but wonder if Weiss had a point and Ozpin did make a mistake. She does have the skills and ability to be an ideal leader, she was young, and youth makes older people believe that they are not capable due to it.

"Sir, did you make a mistake of making leader of Team RWBY?" Ruby asks Ozpin, who slightly chuckles and smiles at what she said, as if it was a funny joke.

"Well, that remains to be seen as of yet." He says to Ruby. "It has only been a day, so it is impossible for me to have made a mistake of making you leader of your team. Trust me when I say I have made more mistakes then any man, women or child." Ozpin says with an almost impossible to detect frown on his face, and said in such a way that seems highly concerning. He quickly covers this up before Ruby can notice more to it. "But I do not consider you appointment as leader to be one of them. Do you Ruby? Being a team leader isn't just a title, you set an example towards others, else they will not act how they should. It is a daunting responsibility, but I believe that you are the one in your team, capable of being this person." Ozpin takes a sip from his coffee mug, "I suggest taking some time to think about how you will uphold your duty." Ozpin walks away, leaving Ruby with his advice and information. While Ruby does take account of what he said, she is more concerned into how he acted when he said had made more mistakes then anyone in existence. Looking out at a balcony, Ruby notices Professor Port walking away from Weiss.

* * *

 _Qrow watches as Ruby looks at her teammate, who had been talking with old Port, ironically along the same lines of Ruby's chat with Oz. Qrow saw that Oz had slipped up, giving away a little suspicion to the girl, though he doubt she knew about his true, immortal, nature, it never help to give a hint your something more than you seem. Qrow wondered why he still hasn't informed the girl that she will be taking lessons from him, but it's not much of a problem to him._

 _Qrow can't help but notice that Ruby is both so similar yet different to Summer. She is just as nice and kind, with that kind of aura of command, yet she seems more brutal in fighting, and seems to understand more subtle hints from people trained to hide them. Qrow is also, privately, suspicious of her surname. Ruby may not be an uncommon name, but Roslinen was not the kind of surname one would find in Vale. Mistral or Atlas maybe, but not here._

 _Scoffing to himself, Qrow discreetly left the corridor from behind the pillar he was leaning against._

* * *

Later that night, Ruby had fallen asleep, reading through and making notes of the books assigned to them by Professor Port, and while Ruby knew about half of what was in them, she figured she better read them and record what she didn't know anyway. Sleeping lightly and constantly alert, she heard someone open the door, probably Weiss since she had been in earlier. Feigning deeper sleep than she actually was, Ruby heard whoever open their door step up on Weiss's bed, likely looking at her. She heard a slight gasp, definitely Weiss's by the sound of it. She was probably surprised by the unearthly sight of Ruby actually doing something like studying. Feeling Weiss shake her shoulder, Ruby continued her act of being sleepier then she was, "Huh? Oh Weiss? Sorry, I feel asleep studying." Ruby said to her partner, who put her hand on her mouth and made a shushing gesture with her hand. Ruby almost reacted how you'd expect a criminal to, but managed to not react. There was no way she had been discovered already!

Or had she already been caught?

"How do you like your coffee?" Weiss quietly asks her, much to Ruby's relief. Ruby notices she has her mug and realises what she is asking.

"Oh uh, cream and five sugars." Ruby answers, no signs of her panic evident in her voice.

Weiss sighs before getting down and somehow quickly gets some coffee. Probably made it beforehand. "Here." She says, giving Ruby her full mug. Usually Ruby didn't take coffee, unless she was help her dad overnight with something, or if they recently pulled a robbery and need to stay awake in case something went up.

"Oh? Thank you Weiss." Ruby says in complete honesty, for some reason Weiss seems to be more accommodating then before. Perhaps her talk with Port made her think about something. Or maybe she is doing what a lot of the hired help Roman hired tried to do and kiss his ass for more jobs, not being fired, more pay etc.

Weiss looked at her like her pride didn't want her to, but she knew she had to say something. "Ruby...I think you will make for an excellent leader," Weiss says to her, which anyone could tell she was being as honest as she could, "But just so you know, I am going to be the best teammate you will ever have." She finishes, sounding pleased that she managed to be honest with her. Weiss steps off her bed and walks out, not before say to Ruby. "Hey Ruby? As a little girl, I have always wanted bunk beds." Ruby can't help but be pleased with her partner.

Looking down at her notes, she closes her notebook up and packs her books into a somewhat neat pile on one of the desks. Getting back on her bed, Ruby pulls out her scroll, checking to see if Roman had gotten any intel on her team. There was one message from Neo, asking her to meet tomorrow for practise, and another from her dad. Quickly texting Neo that she'll be there, Ruby opens the file from her dad. It contains a file with information about Yang Xiao Long: citizen of the Kingdom of Vale, lives on the isle of Patch with her father and pet corgi, trained at Signal academy. There was some information about her physically, but Ruby skipped over the unimportant parts, seeing if she had any weaknesses, though her aura made finding any impossible. Apparently, she owns a custom motorcycle too. Looking into her abilities and skills, she is a predominately CQC orientated fighter and her aura was in the higher levels. Her semblance however made Ruby very concerned, power to take hits and use them to improve her own. If Ruby got caught, Yang would be an issue if she tried to stop her, prolonged fights with her would make stronger, yet hit too much and she gets stronger.

Ruby spends some time working out a way to beat Yang should it come down to it before continuing the document. Other than some reports from her teachers speaking about her hotheadedness, the only other thing that stood out was her family relations. Father, Taiyang Xiao Long, infamous CQC fighter of team STQR, one of the best teams ever produced by Beacon, teacher at Signal academy. Ruby chuckled at the 'Like Father, Like Daughter' relation between the two. While Ruby could find this funny, she WAS a little scared about her other parentage. Her father left a note her saying getting this info was hard and he lost a few good informants for it, and hoped it was worth it. Mother: Raven Branwen, the notorious leader of the Branwen Tribe, currently based in Mistral it seems, fellow member of Team STQR, famous for deadly fighting skills with a sword. Yang also had an Uncle, Qrow Branwen, who wasn't like his sister and was still a Huntsman, he turns out to be a teacher at Signal, other member of STQR, famous user of a scythe and one of the best ever with it.

Ruby looks at this information with something of a chill down her spine. Every major criminal knew of the Branwen tribe, and what happened when you messed with them, Ruby included. Apparently, Yang had little to no interaction with her mother, but Ruby knew that if something happened to Yang, her mother may intervene or hunt Ruby down. Her father on the other hand, would be less of an issue, seeing how he wasn't nearby and not likely to hunt her down like an animal. Qrow Branwen, judging by the more available information on the two men of STQR, would probably hunt her down in drunken anger, yet it seemed he was more than capable fighting drunk, according to police records.

Looking down, Roman said he may be able to get some information about Weiss, he was completely unable to get anything on Blake. Blake...Ruby wondered if she was an ex-criminal or knew how to hide herself from society. Then again, due to racial influences it doesn't surprise Ruby that Blake might try to hide much about her from most people.

Looking at the time, 11:47, Ruby yawns before heading off to sleep properly.

* * *

 _Qrow looked the time on his scroll, 3:29 AM. Putting his scroll away and looking over the direction's Oz had given him to team RWBY's room. Walking down the hall, he stopped at their door before knocking on the door, quietly as to not wake up more people than he needed to. A few seconds pass and Qrow goes to knock again when his target opens the door._

 _"Hello? Can I help you?" Ruby asks him, rubbing her sleepy eyes a little. Qrow looks at her, noticing that she has her weapon in her hand behind her. Strange habit for a fifteen-year-old, but not impossible. He used to do it in the tribe so it's not like he can judge._

 _"Ozpin sent me to get you, we want to have a chat with you." Qrow says ambiguously, to which suddenly makes the girl seem to wake up and look at him suspiciously. It was as if she concerned about something..._

 _"Why? I haven't done anything wrong?" Ruby questions Qrow with that same look of disbelief. Qrow sighs in frustration at her, wondering why he even agreed to become a teacher._

 _Qrow gives her a 'stop messing around with me' look, "Just come with me, you are not in trouble." Ruby looks behind her, probably seeing if they woke anyone up._

 _"Fine, give me a minute to get dressed." She says, closing the door._

* * *

Ruby quickly gets her phone out and texts Neo, who was having a nice dream about killing some of Junior's more annoying thugs. Ruby tells her she may be compromised and to get ready to bust her out.

Quickly changing into her clothes and packing her stuff, she steps outside, the guy leaning against the wall. She can't really tell what his face looks like in the dark hallways as most the lights are out, but he seems to be a tall, lean guy with some kind of weapon on his back. He appears to be wearing some semi-formal/casual wear with a cape on his back, though the colour is hard to make out.

Walking into Beacon Tower, the light on there, she realises that the man is in fact, Qrow Branwen. Ruby feels herself shiver once she realises she is being taking to the Headmaster of Beacon by one of the most dangerous Huntsmen to exist.

Inside the elevator, she feels her scroll vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out and angling it so Qrow can't see it, it's a text from Neo saying she was ready and need a location, to which Ruby quickly types that she's at Beacon Tower. Putting the phone away, Ruby see's Qrow looking at her, eyebrow raised.

"Oh? Weiss just asked where I was, I told her I was here." Ruby smoothly lies to the older man, who merely looks away, seemingly accepting what she said.

Waiting for the elevator to go up, Ruby has a quick look at her surroundings. She notices that the 4 main levels, Headmaster's Office, CCT floors one and two, and lobby are open to students, but there is a fifth button, a basement area, that has a key slot for it and says, 'Authorised Staff Only'. Making a mental note about it, Ruby hears a ding, signalling that they were on the top floor. Stepping out of the elevator and into a small secretary's office, Miss Goodwitch, as the Headmaster's assistant and also Combat Teacher, was sitting behind a desk, writing out forms. She looked up at the pair that walked in, "Hmph, Qrow, Ozpin's waiting for you inside." She says to Qrow like she'd rather he was not there.

"Thanks, Glyn." Qrow replies, which seems to annoy Miss Goodwitch more. Ruby feels a little sorry for her, having someone she didn't like to show up while doing so much school paperwork that Ozpin had probably left for her.

Walking into the office, there wasn't much spectacular about it, gears above them turning and making clock sounds. Keeping the the same theme of the school, with a greyish colouring and and a few pillars in the corners of the room, with a small alcove over the door, Ozpin was sitting on a high backed, metal chair that looked like something straight out of a sci-fi film. A glass, curved desk in front of him with the same theme as the chair. On the desk was his iconic mug, filled with coffee and his cane was leaning against the edge of the desk. A massive clock that double as a window was behind the man himself, probably to look out of.

Walking up to the desk, Qrow leaning against one of the nearby pillars, Ruby looks at the Headmaster.

"You called for me Professor?" Ruby asks politely, keeping an eye on Qrow in case he tries to attack her. All he does is pull out a flask and take a drink from it.

"Miss Roslinen, Mr Branwen is not going to attack you and you are not here because you're in trouble." Ozpin says to the girl, noticing her looking at Qrow. Ruby gives a small sigh of relief.

Looking back at Ozpin, she asks, "Well, uh...why am I here then sir?" Ozpin smiles kindly, as if her question, as typical as it was, was funny to him.

"Ruby, I would like to make you an offer. This is not anything strange or obscene, but an offer to improve yourself. The man behind you, if you don't know, is Qrow Branwen. He is one of the deadliest men alive, trained in the art of using a scythe. He is also a good friend of mine and has agreed to train you when he can as a favour. While this doesn't mean you get out of Miss Goodwitch's classes, you may find that Qrow will be able to help you greatly with your combat skills." Ozpin lays out the deal to Ruby.

Ruby anaylises what she has been told quickly. She has an opportunity to be trained by Qrow Branwen! But she can sense that they may be after something from her, while she doubts they suspect who she is, they might be up to something else. However, this might be a way to get some better, personal information about Qrow, such as semblance, approximate aura strength which will help is she needs to escape. Deciding to risk it for the biscuit, Ruby looks at Ozpin.

"Alright then sir, I'll do it. but is there something you need off me?" Ruby asks to which Ozpin shakes his head.

"No, you don't need to do anything except listen to Mr Branwen and do as he instructs." Ozpin tells Ruby, who nods her head in confirmation.

"Can I tell anyone? Or do you want me to keep it secret?" Ruby asks Ozpin, who once again shakes his head, telling her to tell whoever she wanted. "If that's all, can I go now sir?" Ruby inquires politely, wanting to give this info to Neo and her dad as soon as possible.

"No Miss Roslinen, that will be all, you may go now." Ozpin dismisses Ruby, who walks out of his office. Ozpin looks over at Qrow, eyebrow raised. "So, Qrow, Miss Roslinen has a agreed to it. You can begin whenever you like, just don't interfere to much with her classes too much please?" Qrow gives his boss a dismissive sigh, before turning into a crow and flying out through the roof.

* * *

Ruby quickly runs back to her dorm with her semblance, opening the door quietly, trying to not wake her team up.

Which doesn't matter as they are awake, and looked relieved when she walks in. Yang getting up first and walking up to her. "Ruby! Where were you? Blake woke up and saw you were gone." Ruby is rather surprised that Blake noticed she was gone and woke everyone up. She certainly doesn't look too concerned.

"Oh, Ozpin just needed to have a conversation with me and called me over to his office." Ruby explains to her team, deciding if she should tell them. Weiss looks at her with an inquisitive look.

"What did he have to talk about?" She asks Ruby, who shrugs, deciding to tell them.

"Professor Ozpin want to talk about me being tutored privately by a man called Qrow Branwen, who is a famous scythe user." Ruby tells her team, before realising the look on Yang's face. She completely forgot they were related.

"Really? So, my uncle is here to train you eh?" Yang says to Ruby, who feigns surprise that the two are Uncle and Niece. The reactions from the other two however are genuine. "Well, considering he doesn't teacher people very often, good luck with him. He knows what he is doing and is very good at it. Can you let me know when you go and train with him, I want to have a chat with him." Yang continues with a vicious look on her face that says said chat will likely be her trying to beat him up.

Ruby agrees to let Yang know, it will be funny plus give a better idea on Yang's fighting skills and Qrow's too. Reassuring Weiss that nothing else happened and she wasn't lying, (for once Ruby notes), team RWBY calms down and heads back off to sleep. Ruby quickly text Roman the good news, who congratulated her on her opportunity to improve her skills and learn about the infamous Branwen. Ruby smiles at her dad's praise before turning her scroll off and going to sleep.

* * *

Roman smiled at the message his little girl sent. She was in a good position to learn her weapon, better then he or Neo could teach her, and she will probably end up a close friend with a highly skilled Huntsmen. Putting his scroll down, he looked over at Neo, who was playing some game on her scroll.

"Neo, Ruby is being trained by Qrow Branwen." Roman says shortly to the occasionally psychopathic girl, who blinks before shivering at the news. Roman didn't know much about Neo before they met, other than she was highly trained and had history with the Branwen Twins.

"Don't worry, hopefully he won't do anything bad to her and she will get better, maybe better then you..." Roman trails off, much to Neo's annoyance, who throws a pillow at him. "I'm just joking, calm down!" Roman laughs at Neo, who has an angry frown at him.

Roman hopes, lowkey, that Ruby may learn something about Neo. Not to use against her, but in case it ever may be of use. Looking back at his scroll, Roman looks at the information complied about Weiss Schnee, Ruby's teammate. Other than some basic family information on Weiss and her relations with each, Roman couldn't find any information Ruby didn't already know.

Roman looks over at the one piece of information he could find on this 'Blake Belladona'. Apparently, she is from Menagerie and her family lives there. Also, she had left when she was younger, but Roman's informants were unable to find anything else yet. Sighing to himself, Roman gets up and walks over to the whiteboard he uses for planning heists, working out some of the finer details for the robbery in the next few weeks. It pays to account for any possible problems that can arise in a criminal's line of work.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: Another Chapter down, more story done.**_

 _ **Sorry about not updating, Christmas was a hectic time and I'm currently visiting family up North until the 18th, so I will be trying to get at least a chapter per week if I am able plus I need to work on making the chapters progressively longer...and I need to watch episode 12 when it goes free on RT's site, I am so hyped for it. Too much to do, so little time.**_

 _ **Any advice or helpful** **criticism** **is always appreciated, AD**_


	9. Chapter 9: Forever Fall

_**Author's Note: Man can life get in the way, left to go back to my own place (which is almost in another state by the way) and have been really lazy and not working so much on this and yet not wanting to do some half-assed chapter. I should be able to update regularly as I get back into it but my brother gave me a ton of ideas for stories that I can't help but writing some basic plot/plans and ideas for them, but don't worry about me starting another story any time soon or just dropping TLR, that ain't happening.**_

 ** _I'm going to be working on more perspectives in the story, to add more diversity, so more to work on..._**

 ** _I'd say why I like punishing myself by pushing my ability to write, but I honestly don't know._**

 ** _Feel free to point out any grammar mistakes I might have missed._**

* * *

 ** _A Few Weeks Later..._**

Waking up, Ruby yawns before slipping of her bed and landing without making any sound. Getting dressed and grabbing Crescent Rose, she walks out her team dorm and starts heading to Miss Goodwitch's fighting arena, even though the deputy is probably working elsewhere. Walking inside, Ruby spots Qrow standing in the centre of the arena, his weapon extended into its own scythe form. Stopping a couple metres away from her teacher, Ruby draws Crescent Rose, and with a quick spin of her weapon, she adopts a combat stance. A minute passes as the two scythe wielders stand ready, waiting for the other to initiate the fight.

Ruby, aided by her semblance, starts running at Qrow at a blinding speed, her scythe behind her as she fires it for added acceleration. As Ruby comes within striking distance, she ducks and swings Crescent Rose in a rising arc, which Qrow steps away from, his own weapon swinging at her left side. Pushing herself off the ground to dodge the swing, Ruby flips over Qrow, swinging her weapon at his head which he is forced to block. Landing with one leg stretched out, Ruby swings her weapon's blade at Qrow, who blocks her, but Ruby uses this opportunity to spin around and attack his open side, but the seasoned huntsman anticipates this and swifty blocks the attempted attack. Ruby quickly collapses her baby and blocks Qrow retaliatory strike and is pushed back a few metres. Firing at Qrow rapidly, Ruby begins circling him while firing at him until her clip runs out. Qrow smirks at her, before the part the connects blade to shaft protrudes two cylinders, which begin firing out shotgun pellets mixed with some Blast Dust. Thankfully, the amount isn't capable of destroying the environment and the two don't have to risk the wrath of Goodwitch. Firing her gun at the floor, Ruby launches herself upwards and fires again, launching herself at Qrow, who is forced to dodge since her momentum combined with the dangerous force called gravity could damage his weapon or ruin his aura. Qrow leaps back, and fires at Ruby, who is unable to dodge the spread, is forced to block as much as she can with Crescent Rose. Gauging her aura to be around 57%, Ruby runs at Qrow with her semblance, sliding pass his gunfire until she is able to attack him.

Swing her scythe around, Ruby starts by swing her scythe horizontally, as if using a scythe how it's supposed to be used. Qrow blocks this, his scythe quickly shifting into its sword form for better protection, Ruby fires her gun, attempting to break through his defence with brute force. She manages to make Qrow buckle slightly under the blow but is unable to react as her teacher swiftly pushes her off and begins his own offensive. Qrow slashes at her rapidly as Ruby desperately tries to avoid being hit. Firing a round at Qrow, who didn't expect this and is forced to tank the hit with his Aura, Ruby manages to scramble away from Qrow. Ruby knew she'd have no chance if that Qrow got the offensive advantage, she was done for. Swinging her weapon behind her, Ruby fires and flies past Qrow, slashing at Qrow, who blocks easily, but Crescent Rose's blade is shifted, so that it forms a more spear-like shape with a curved blade. Using her semblance to stop herself, Ruby fires behind herself again and repeats this cycle a few times, constantly changing her direction to keep her teacher from homing in on her, she manages to hit the huntsman a few times, but much to her annoyance, his aura seems to be very much intact. Stopping before Qrow can find a way to counter her, Ruby looks at the Branwen, who has a somewhat impressed look on his face. Ruby can't help but smile at him, glad she has impressed him in some way.

Qrow however, suddenly runs at her, faster than Ruby can react, and she is sent flying into one of the dust barriers around the arena. Landing on the ground with a thunk, Ruby looks at her scroll and sees her aura is at a measly 19%. Ruby groans mentally, how could she have forgotten one of the most important rules of fighting?! Neo would have been disappointed with her failing, the mute being a harsh teacher. All the hero mentality this place has must be getting to her. Ruby struggles to her feet and yells out to her teacher, "I surrender!"

* * *

 _Qrow can't help but be a little disappointed that she didn't try a last-ditch effort, but he is glad that she isn't like most people her age, and knows when it's better to surrender. She'll probably live longer than most of them. Walking over to his student, Qrow looks at her before pulling out his scroll. "New record, you lasted a minute longer than last time. You're getting better, but you shouldn't have let your guard down simply because you did something I found impressive." Qrow says to Ruby, who can't help but sigh. Girl really seemed to want to beat him, even though he was a seasoned huntsman that had hunted all kinds of Grimm, criminals and members of Salem's Faction and lived to tell about it. "You probably won't be able to beat me while you're learning here at Beacon," Qrow says to Ruby, who nods in reluctant acceptance, "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try your hardest to win. For all I know, you could beat me next lesson we have, but even if that happens, you'll have to keep trying since this is the only way I can train you better. You have the skill, natural talent and ability to be a great scythe wielder, all you need is practise and pointers on how to improve, and I find that doing that in a dual is the best way to get it understood." Qrow finishes his little speech to Ruby, who does seem to be pleased with his honest praise._

 _"Alright Mr Branwen, I understand." Ruby says to Qrow, who can't help but sigh at her insistence to not call him by his name. "Do you mind if I leave sir?" Ruby asks._

 _Qrow looks at his student before saying, "Actually, I was wondering if I could know a little bit more about you?" Ruby looks at him with an inquisitive, almost suspicious look on her face. "I just would like to know more about who I am spending my mornings training." Qrow says to Ruby, who's face lightens up slightly._

 _"Well...Ok then, what would you like to know?" Ruby agrees._

* * *

Some time passes as Qrow asks Ruby some questions about her, such where she was from and if she had any close family. Ruby manages to come up with elaborate lies that are lined with some truth, having been taught by her dad that some truth can the difference between a lie working or falling apart, but Qrow doesn't seem to hint onto her, so Ruby lies what she has to but tells some useless truths to him.

"So, you grew up in Vale on the streets with your adoptive sister? Hmph, I got a good idea about how that can be." Qrow says to Ruby, who looks at him somewhat curious for details about her teacher's upbringing in the tribe. "I was raised in a tribe with my sister, Raven. We spent some time away from them as per the tribe's custom. We got used to being alone in a big city." Qrow explains to Ruby, but to her disappointment, he doesn't elaborate further. Looking at the time, Ruby asks, "Sir? It's almost 6:30, can I go back to my dorm now?"

Qrow nods, granting her request. "Sorry about taking your time kiddo, but I figure it will be good to get to know each other while I'm training you." Qrow says to Ruby, who nods in understanding. Leaving the arena and heading back to her dorm, Ruby notices as she starts walking down the corridor, that Jaune is outside, his head on the wall next to his own dorm's door. Walking up behind him, Ruby taps his shoulder, giving him a jump. "Good morning Jaune, what are you doing up so early?" Ruby says to her friend, curious to for a reason, though she has a clue as to why.

"Oh, hey Ruby...just, regretting my life choices right now..." Jaune says to Ruby rather anticlimactically. Ruby looks at him, her eyebrow raised. It's clear that he has been doing something rather physical. Ruby sighs when the dots connect, and she realises that Cardin has gotten him to do something again, Ruby noticed this started happening recently, and that Jaune has been spending more time with CRDL than his own team. This had lead Ruby to investigate the problem, Jaune _**is**_ her friend after all, which turned out that Cardin had some kind of leverage over Jaune and was forcing him to do his school work and other menial tasks. While the kind and caring part of Ruby wants nothing less to help Jaune and beat up CRDL, the experienced criminal parts holds her back. Ruby knows that Jaune has to do something himself to handle his issue alone, if he wanted if situation to improve for the better.

Sighing to herself, Ruby looks at Jaune with a stern look, "Jaune, I know what is going on between you can Cardin." Jaune looks at her, looking like he was about to panic. "But you can just let him step over you and control your life." Ruby notices Jaune looking at her sadly.

"I can't, he knows something very important about me, and I'll be in a world of trouble if anyone else finds out." Jaune replies sadly. Ruby looks at him, thinking about what he said...

"What exactly is it then? You can trust me, I'm your friend." Ruby says in an attempt to get him to speak. Jaune looks at her, clearly not wanting to say, something unusual for someone like Jaune, who was a pretty open guy. "Jaune, I promise, I won't tell anyone at all, can you please tell me?" Jaune can only sigh, surrendering to his friend's request finally.

"Remember when Professor Oobleck had me and Cardin stay in after our lesson on Fort Castle? Well... after Oobleck dismissed us, Pyrrha had waited outside for me. She decided to take me up to the roof and she wanted to train with me and help me become a better fighter, but I took it the wrong way and I told her..." Jaune trails off, making Ruby think he said something stupid to Pyrrha. Ruby was about to ask him when he whispered to himself, "I told her how I cheated my way into Beacon with some fake transcripts I bought. Cardin heard me from outside his window after Pyrrha left."

Ruby can't help but be impressed that Jaune, of all people, _cheated_ his way into Beacon. It certainly explained his terrible combat skills. Was Miss Goodwitch really that overworked when processing his request? Ruby looks at Jaune, who quickly says, "You can't tell anyone, please?"

"Of course, I won't Jaune, your my friend." Ruby says reassuringly. Ruby gives Jaune a hug and looks at him. "Jaune, I grew up in a dangerous place, and I can tell you now you need to do something to stop him without him telling any staff." Jaune looks dubious at what Ruby says, clearly not sure about how to handle what she is asking of him. "You'll know what you need to do when you need to do it." Ruby says to Jaune rather cryptically.

Ruby walks into her dorm, and wave goodbye to Jaune, leaving the Leader of JNPR to his thoughts.

* * *

It had been a week since Jaune had been told that he should fight back, and recently? Jaune really started to think about how to do so, except unlike Ruby, he wasn't exactly the bravest of people. Jaune sighed at his hopeless situation as he carried a box of Rapier Wasps (Which _really_ didn't want to be caught, much to Jaune's pain and frustration) to CRDL's dorm. Knocking on the door, Russel opened the door for him and let him in. Russel wasn't as bad as Cardin, on the contrary, he was rather nice when not with his team. However, the whole team CRDL was in, which meant no chance for him to just put the wasps somewhere and leave.

"Hey there Jauney Boy, you got my wasps for me, good job." Cardin says to Jaune sarcastically, "You can go now, I don't need you to do anything else for now." Jaune waited until he was out of their dorm before sighing with relief. Walking back to his own dorm, Jaune stops briefly, and rests his head against the wall next to JNPR's dorm. He wonders to himself, why? Why did he cheat into Beacon? Was it to prove to himself he was something greater then what he was? Or to honour his family, his father being a retired huntsman himself? Jaune shook his head and grabbed his scroll and opened the door. His team was already asleep, it was well past 10:00 pm, and Jaune didn't even bother getting changed into his onesie, too tired and down on himself to be bothered, and flopped down on his mattress.

Jaune laid on his bed for some time, thinking how he could get himself out of this conundrum. He had taken Ruby seriously, but he just couldn't even figure out a to stop Cardin without getting exposed. Not to mention, a lot of his plans that COULD work, Jaune just can't muster the courage to enact. Sighing one final time, Jaune yawns and closes his eyes, letting sleep take him.

* * *

Leading the class was Miss Goodwitch, who was taking her first-year class to the school's privately owned bullheads. She sorted them into three of the transports, the pilots already scheduled for their trip to forest known as Forever Fall. Ruby had noticed that when Miss Goodwitch had informed the class of the trip, Blake had an expression that was not a nonchalant one. She seemed...almost shocked, as if she had been there before for something. Ruby looked down at her scroll, reading the info her dad sent her earlier about her other two teammates. Unfortunately, most the info on Weiss that Ruby didn't know was purely about her relations with her family. The intel on Blake was also limited, after all, it wasn't unusual for Faunus to be born on Menagerie but leave when they were older. Perhaps Blake had travelled to Forever Fall and had ran into something or someone unsavoury?

Shaking her head slightly to rid herself of her theorising, Ruby looks over to see what her team is doing. Weiss wasn't doing much, merely sitting down and waiting, Blake was casually reading a book (which Ruby swears she didn't notice earlier) and Yang appears to have dozed off. Ruby looks down at her scroll, looking at a text from her dad, who just seemed like he wanted to know how she was. Ruby smiled slightly, even though she was infiltrating probably the most dangerous place in Vale and had the express attention of the Headmaster and one of the Branwen twins, Roman still acted like she was on any old easy job. Ruby worked a simple reply, letting the criminal mastermind know she was fine and doing well. Switching her scroll off, knowing he will likely be unable to reply until later that afternoon. Ruby cracks her neck slightly, getting rid of the stiff feeling on the back of her neck.

Sometime passes when the bullhead RWBY shares with JNPR starts to slow and begins to descend. The airship lands and the teams make their way out, the other teams also leaving their own bullheads, while Miss Goddwitch instructs the group to follow her. Ruby sighs in slight disappointment when she notices Jaune carrying CRDL's jars.

As they walk down a dirt trail Miss Goodwitch starts speaking, "Yes, the forest of Forever Fall is a beautiful place, but we are here to collect samples from the trees deeper inside the forest for Professor Peach. I am here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Ruby raises her eyebrow at Miss Goodwitch. Who the _hell_ , was Professor Peaches?! She had extensive dossiers on the Beacon Staff, save the headmaster (who was quite the enigma), and there was no Professor Peaches working here! However, Ruby didn't question her combat teacher, knowing that she'd likely get detentions or worse.

* * *

The class had split up, with most teams going off to hang out and get their required amount of sap. There were a few teams that went as a group, like RWBY and JNPR. Ruby was disappointed as she watched Cardin take Jaune, likely to make him do their work for them. She could see the sad looks on the other members of their team, Pyrrha seeming to a mixed of sadness and restrained fury. While Ruby's own team didn't mind, Ruby couldn't help it but be disappointed that Jaune still let Cardin use him. Ruby looked away as they had walked off to a small grove of trees.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ruby and her team had finished gathering the needed sap (Ruby was still suspicious of why exactly they needed to get all this sap) and were relaxing along with Pyrrha, who had also just finished. Pyrrha's teammates would have been finished too, but Nora kept drinking the sap and making Ren refill it, much to his little annoyance. Ruby had been here before, training against the local grimm with Neo, but she didn't know that people used the sap for...something and it was a little surprised that they never encountered anyone. Looking around her surrounds as a habit, Ruby noticed Jaune walking in the direction of where CRDL were, carrying six jars filled with sap.

Wait...six?

Ruby watched Jaune out of the corner of her eye as he wandered down a small hill to his tormentor. Looking over at her friends, they were all have a conversation except for Blake, who was reading her book. Ruby politely taps Blake on the shoulder.

"Heeey, I need to go for a minute, just in case anyone asks." Ruby says to Blake, who merely nods in response. Getting up, Ruby walks off some distance, before climbing a tree and doubling back. Ruby leaps from tree to tree, making as little noise as possible, until she comes into sight of Jaune and CRDL, who are laying prone on the hill and looking down at her team and Jaune's. She can't hear what is being said, but Ruby hazards a guess as Cardin points at Pyrrha, who is filling Nora's jar since Nora keeps drink hers. Pulling out Crescent Rose, Ruby waits to see what happens.

* * *

 _Jaune looked shocked and sure as hell was shocked. Cardin had just asked him to throw sap at Pyrrha so those wasps would attack her! Jaune had never been more conflicted, Pyrrha was nice and a great teammate, but he couldn't exactly afford to revealed by Cardin._

 _Raising the jar, Jaune was about to throw when Ruby's words went through his head._ You'll know what you need to do when you need to do it. _Resigning himself to whatever fate he was going to suffer, Jaune lowered his arm. "No."Jaune says._

 _Cardin looks at him, clearly a little surprised. "What did you just say?" the bully says, his tone clearly saying for him to reconsider, but Jaune, despite wanting to, doesn't and says to his tormentor.  
_

 _"I said, NO!" and throws the jar which hits Cardin square in the chest. It took a second to realise just what he had done._

 _"Now you've done it." Cardin says_ _dangerously, to which chuckles nervously as Sky and Dove grab him by his shoulders._

* * *

Ruby watches as the jar shatters on Cardin, a happy smile on her face as she watches her friend finally resist and fight back.

Although, this probably wasn't the best time for him, Ruby thinks to herself as Dove and Sky grab Jaune. While Ruby can't exactly hear what is being said, she can watch as Cardin likely threatens Jaune, punching him in the stomach, knocking Jaune to the ground. Cardin picks him up and punches him again, right in the cheek, again knocking the leader of JNPR to the ground. Cardin picks him up once more, to which he says something to Jaune, who seems to reply with something defiant. Ruby aims Crescent Rose at Cardin, her bullet to disable him if he continues, however as Cardin growls at him and goes to punch him, a blinding white light shines from Jaune, blinding everyone, including Ruby.

Once she regains her eyesight back, Ruby notices that Jaune has somehow instantly healed himself, and Cardin is holding his wrist in pain. Sky kicks Jaune in the back, and Cardin, his Aura making his wrist less painful, seems about to gang up on Jaune.

Ruby jumps out of the tree as the Ursa behind them bellows in anger and smells the sap on Cardin.

Ruby is split between saving Cardin and letting the Ursa maul him for having the grimm's snack on his armour. The other members of CRDL run, but Cardin is mauled aside before he can turn. The grimm looks at Jaune briefly, before going after Cardin. The school bully tried to draw his mace, but the Ursa knocked it out of his hands, and it landed in front of Jaune, who looked like he might just leave Cardin to his fate. In Ruby's opinion, that would be ideal, the threat to his time at Beacon is gone, he doesn't have to get blackmailed and a racist that barely contributed wouldn't be missed, but Ruby knew Jaune. She knew he would try and help him, even if Cardin wouldn't have himself.

Ruby watched as Weiss and Pyrrha appeared, Ruby moved over to them. Jaune had by this point jumped in front of Cardin, saving his life as the Ursa was about to end Cardin's. Blocking the paw with his shield, Jaune pushed it off him and swung his sword in an arc, slicing into the grimm's hide. Ruby looked at Weiss, who was about to attack, and shook her head. Weiss looked at her leader, before putting her weapon away. Jaune dodged a strike from the Ursa, and jumped over another impressively, before being smacked down mid-air and landing next to Cardin. He quickly got back up, and charged, but was knocked aside. Ruby saw him check his Aura, which had to be low after hits like that. Ruby watched as he moved a bit slower at the Ursa, which was about to swing again, but Pyrrha raised her hand, and Jaune's shield started moving up, in perfect position to deflect the paw, and give Jaune an opening to decapitate it. Which he managed to do. Ruby was thoroughly impressed he took the opening.

"How did you do that?" Weiss said to Pyrrha, sounding a little bit amazed. Pyrrha was about to say when Ruby cut her off.

"Polarity, you can control magnetic forces, and control metal by extension. It's also your semblance." Ruby says to which Pyrrha nods in confirmation. Pyrrha started walking off, Ruby and Weiss catching on to what she was suggesting. Ruby waited for a moment, wanting to see how this played out.

* * *

 _Jaune walked over to Cardin, who looked both impressed and ashamed of himself. Jaune offered a hand to his ex-tormentor, who took it and Jaune pulled him up._

 _"Holy shit Jaune." Cardin says to Jaune, shocked that he protected him and even killed that massive Ursa. Jaune pulled Cardin up to him, looking him in the eye._

 _"Never mess with my team...my friends, ever again." Jaune says in a low voice that Cardin can only nod in confirmation. Jaune turns around and starts walking away, unaware that Ruby was behind a nearby tree, and heard everything that time._

* * *

When Miss Goodwitch questioned the two students, it turns out that Cardin tripped over his jar and got it on his armour, and an Ursa attacked them. Jaune noticed and had moved to save his classmate.

Their teacher actually didn't think there was anything else to it. They left shortly afterwards and had made their way back to Beacon Academy. Some of the support staff had taking the jars of sap once they had arrived, and while Ruby doubted that it had a malicious intent, she wanted to know why they needed so much sap. RWBY and JNPR made their way to their dorms to have the afternoon off. Ruby watched as her team went about their business, Weiss studying, Blake reading and Yang playing on her scroll. Ruby had her headphones on as she had a text-voice chat with her dad.

'Hi dad, how are you?' Ruby typed, to which her dad shrug.

"I'm fine, Cinder still being a pain. How's your training with the big bad Qrow going?" Roman replied to his daughter, his joking tone making her smile.

'Good, he's extremely good at fighting, also I haven't been able to find out any info on sis' Ruby typed, to which her dad merely shrugs again.

"Keep at it, don't push it too much though, you know what can happen." he says to Ruby, "Well, nice chatting with you, but daddy has got some work to do, I send Neo text time to bring you over here."

'Bye dad' Ruby types, before she ends the call. She quickly checks to see if her anonymity program she had installed prior to leaving to Beacon worked as it was meant to, and thankfully it had. Getting up, Ruby asks her team, "Anyone want some snacks from the cafeteria? I'm going to get some." Weiss politely decline, Blake asks for some fruit and Yang requests several packets of junk food. As Ruby makes her way there, she notices Pyrrha walking up to the roof. Sneaking behind her, she watches as the champion fighter walks up to Jaune, who had been up there alone apparently. Ruby smirks and leaves them to their own privacy, while giggling at how Jaune would likely mess up somehow in that rather romantic setting. Walking away from the roof exit, Ruby puts on her headphones and uses her semblance to run down and get her team some snacks.

* * *

Later that evening, Ruby was walking down from the CCT tower, having just finished discreetly putting the last of her surveillance cameras up when she saw Qrow, Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch head inside the elevator. Sitting down on a bench outside, Ruby turned her scroll on to see where they were going. Ruby was surprised when she saw the headmaster insert a special key into a little compartment and the elevator headed down. As she watches from her microscopic camera, Ruby was surprised when it suddenly cut out, even though it seemed to be working fine. Frowning at this development, Ruby waited for them to send the elevator back up and for her camera to turn on. Once it was back on the main floor, Ruby quickly ran in with her semblance and pocketed the camera. Walking away with little reason to seem suspicious to the unsuspecting, Ruby's face was in deep thought. The girl walked back to her dorm, to which her team though she had been on another casual walk, like they did when she first lied to them about why she was out.

Ruby was lying in bed, her mind unable to fathom what led Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, to have anti-surveillance tech installed for something under the school. Waiting for everyone to finish getting ready for bed before herself, Ruby quickly texted Roman about this strange abnormality about the school, but the criminal had no idea either. With both daughter and father in the dark, Ruby decides leave this for now, making a note on her scroll to look into at a later date.

* * *

 _Oz had tried to tell him not to bother with the anti-surveillance hardware, but he had installed it anyway. It payed to be overly safe then unsecured._

 _General Ironwood frowned as he's personal scroll beeped and informed him that someone had tried to place surveillance gear in the Vault. The Atlesian General picked up his scroll and started to organising an early trip to Beacon with some of his officers._

 _It had been too long since he had visited his old friend._

* * *

 _ **Shorter chapter this time, want to leave episodes 15 and 16 to another chapter, seeing how much I can do on them alone, that would be way too much for me to do in one chapter.**_

 _ **And whenever I am writing Ruby, I tend to think of her like Kasumi for Mass Effect, especially with her Loyalty gear.**_ _ **I should stop playing Mass Effect for a bit...**_

 _ **The Finale of Volume 5 was pretty good, though I don't really get the feels from anything.**_ _ **I'm heartless like that...**_

 ** _Any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD_**


	10. Chapter 10: The Faunus and the Schnee

_**Authors Note: Next chapteeeer! More Story Stuff!** **Shenanigans** **ensure! Longer chapter to apologise and to make up for the delay and I got more to say at the bottom to explain that.**_

 _ **Also is being annoying, so piece of advice, check stories daily in case they don't come up as updated.**_

* * *

Swing horizontally her sword at her assailant, Pyrrha is blocked by Jaune's shield, reacting in time to block her, but leaving his flank open, to which Pyrrha slams her shield into Jaune's sword arm, causing the man to gasp in sudden pain. Jaune moves back, shield forward and sword pointed at his teammate. While Jaune is improving, it will take quite some time before Pyrrha can have him trained up to professional huntsman level.

Jaune, noticing a slight drop in her guard, thrusts his sword forward as a distraction to try to 'punch' Pyrrha with his shield. The champion fighter however deflects his thrust off her shield and Jaune's follow up hit narrowly misses. Pyrrha then draws her own sword into a thrust, striking Jaune in his chestplate, which absorbs the blow. She backhands Jaune with her shield, and trips him over with a sweeping leg.

Jaune looks up at Pyrrha, who merely smiles before offering a hand to him. Picking Jaune up off the floor, Pyrrha smiles at him, pleased with his progress.

"You are getting much better Jaune, just remember not to attack because your opponent might be a little less focused or else this might happen." Pyrrha reminds her leader, who nods at her, obviously taking in the consideration. "Well, we might as well head in now, it's late as it is." Jaune nods, rather exhausted in his attempts to beat his teammate. Pyrrha can't help but admire his drive and determination. Under her tutelage, she knows that he will become a great huntsman. And maybe some more to some people...

...Wait, what?

Pyrrha blinks once she just realised what she had just thought. Shaking her head to keep that memory out of her head for now, the two are walking back to their room when they notice Ruby walking out of her room, what sounds like an argument over something going on between Weiss and Yang. Ruby looks over at the two sword users, and waves at them.

To Pyrrha, Ruby was rather odd. She seemed constantly alert, noticing the smallest things as if it may be a threat. She had told Team JNPR and her own team at lunch once about how she was raised on the streets of Vale, yet her abilities seemed to be that of a professional like herself. Then again, it could be she just had to be like this to get ahead in her life. Pyrrha doesn't want to pry into her personal life, but she can't help but find the little girl to be an oddity in a school for huntsmen.

"Hey Jaune, Pyrrha." Ruby says to them casually.

"Hey Ruby, Weiss and Yang fighting again?" Jaune asks back, to which Ruby nods.

"Yeah, Yang 'accidentally' lost Weiss's homework which she claims she had to move since it was 'in the way' so now Weiss is getting up her since it's was due soon." Ruby explains in bored tone. Pyrrha looks at the bored fifteen year old, in charge of what was probably the strangest team in Beacon. Team RWBY: an enigmatic fifteen year old prodigy, the Schnee Dust Company heiress, a quiet, book loving girl and a brash, loud but nice girl that seems to be the kind to go partying lots.

Then again...

Her own team was too, rather strange, with a famous champion fighter, a leader that doesn't seem like he should be here, Ren, who was basically a ninja with automatic pistols. Oh, and Nora, not else needing to be said there.

"Been training Jaune have you Pyrrha?" Ruby said to them, Pyrrha a little surprise she knew, but nodding her head regardless. "Well, if you every want a hand, feel free to ask." Ruby continued kindly.

"Thanks Ruby, how's your own training with Mr Branwen going?" Jaune said to his friend.

"Well, he's taught me a bit, and my skills are getting ever so better." Ruby replied. A small silence ensured.

Shrugging to the younger girl with a apologetic smile, "Well, I hope they don't keep up you and Blake up this time." Waving goodbye, the two members of Team JNPR walk into their own room, to the sound of Nora talking about something random to Ren, likely one of her recurring dreams. Just how they had been when they left. Pyrrha smiles at the sight of her team.

It was everything she could have wanted here, and more.

* * *

 _James, standing on his ship's bridge as the flagship prepared for departure in a few days. Things were going rather smoothly, until a lieutenant walked up to the General._

 _"Sir, Professor Polendina asked me to inform you that his prototype has arrived in Vale." the soldier reported to Ironwood. The general said nothing, before dismissing the soldier._

 _The genius scientist had keep bugging him about letting his 'child' go and participate in the Tournament, to which James finally agreed. It would good for the girl to get some combat experience. He would have to assign his troops to keep an eye on her though, it wouldn't help if people knew about her just yet. And there would be outrage if people knew an android was participating in the Vytal Festival._

* * *

 _ **A few days later**_

So, when Weiss suggested a trip to Vale that Friday afternoon, Ruby thought they might just go around, buy some stuff, maybe grab a bite to eat. While she could maybe visit her dad if he wasn't busy. It sounded like a great idea honestly.

But then again it was Weiss.

SO, after flying to Vale on a school Bullhead, Weiss had proceeded to drag them around, figuratively, as people prepared for the Vytal Festival, and the visiting tourists from Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo started to arrive. It wasn't too bad, Ruby thought, lots of people to pickpocket, good pickings from Atlesian visitors, the posh idiots. Ruby was casually listening to her partner talk about how much preparation went into the event. Ruby stopped listening intently a while ago, her thoughts going to the time Roman had taken her and Neo to the Tournament.

It had been fun, before Roman was as major a criminal and mostly unknown. They had front row seats as teams of Huntsmen and Huntress fought for their school's glory. To the girls, it had been some casual fun. To Roman, as he explained afterwards, it was to teach them on how those kinds of people fight. Ruby had learned much, and regularly attended the Vytal Festival, usually with Neo or her dad, before he was too infamous.

Smiling at her fond memories and happy times, Ruby watches as Weiss leads them to the Vale Docks. Ruby spent lots of time at the docks, working with her dad on criminal activities, so while the smell wasn't that bad, Ruby wasn't exactly impressed that Weiss led them here. There is a rather large boat that had just arrived, that was not familiar to Ruby however.

"Weiss, why did you come to the docks?" Ruby asks her partner, somewhat confused why her Schnee teammate would want to be here of all places.

"Well, I heard that the students of Vacuo will be arriving here by boat, and as Students of Beacon, I think it's our duty to welcome them to Vale." Weiss says with grandeur. Blake, however soon exposes her true reason.

"She just wants to spy on them, so she has an advantage in the Tournament." Blake explains, to which Yang shrugs and Ruby merely nods. While Weiss turned around to deny the fact, Ruby did note it was a good idea if they wanted the best chance of winning. As people start walking off the boat, Rudy looks around bit, a habit she of hers, to see some police in front of a dust shop. It's been cornered off by police, the door and windows have been broken, so has mostly everything else inside the store.

Ruby sighed, she had been talking with her dad, when he had to get off since some White Fang he had sent with one of Roman's personal crew to rob somewhere, they had arrived back but apparently stuffed up somehow. Roman had been really annoyed, before apologising and hanging up.

Ruby didn't trust the White Fang, but not in the sense that they were terrorists, though that is another reason why. It was because that Cinder had insisted that Roman had them help him with robberies, and boy, could they be incompetent. As Ruby watched the cops go about their jobs, the other members of her team noticed what she was looking at. Weiss and Yang started walking up to the cops, with Ruby and Blake in tow.

"Excuse me Officer, but what happened here?" Weiss said to one of the cops, who was bearded and had a tablet out, marking something down.

"Robbery, another Dust shop hit this week, it's turning into a madhouse here..." The cop says, before he walks off and starts discussing with his partner. Ruby hears Yang say how terrible it was, but the team listened in as the cops discussed the robbery. Weiss crossed her arms when the cop that they had talked to said it might have been the White Fang. Ruby gets a nice smug feeling knowing how useless the cops are, still grabbing at vague and irrelevant possibilities. Though it WAS the Fang, the cops wouldn't be able to work out why in a million years.

"The White Fang, what a disgusting bunch of criminals and lowlifes." Weiss says, her voice clearing stating her hate for the group. What Ruby didn't expect was Blake's reaction.

"What's your problem against them?" She asks her Schnee teammate, who looks at Blake like it isn't obvious.

"My 'problem' is that I simply dislike the criminally insane murders and thieves that is the White Fang." Weiss replies to her teammate, who looks rather livid at Weiss's remark. While the two started debating what exactly the White Fang were, Ruby and Yang stood off to the side, until Blake brought up the good point of why they would rob a dust shop.

"Blake has got a point, why bother stealing dust from a store? It was probably some other criminals, like Torchwick or someone else." Ruby says to her team.

"Still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang is a bunch of scum." Weiss says, looking away as if to say she won't change her mind any time soon. Blake looks almost ready to attack her when Yang is starts to talk, but is cut off when a guy shouts out, "Somebody stop that faunus!" The girls turn around and run back to where they saw the boat being moored.

Down at the docks, on the same boat, are two men chasing after some Monkey Faunus with a unbuttoned shirt, revealing his abs and chest. He has blond hair and the same colour on his tail, and also has some red armoured gloves, similar in colour to Crescent Rose. Judging by his looks and actions, he was probably some visiting huntsmen in training, that decide to stowaway on the boat.

"Thanks for the ride guys, he he he." the girls hear the faunus says to the dockworkers, before jumping of the side of the boat and onto the dock. One of the man shouts out to the faunus, calling him a "no-good stowaway". The guy is hanging upside down on a light, much to the surprise of many people on the dock, eating a banana. He then goes on to say that he was a great stowaway for not getting caught. The cops from before must have noticed the commotion, as they had walked down to the docks to see what was going on.

"Get down from there now!" the bearded cop said, to which the faunus replied with a banana skin to his face. Ruby almost laughed when he did that. Doing stuff like that to see a cop's reaction was one of her favourite past times as a kid. The cop on the other hand, was less than impressed. Laughing at the cop's angry expression, the faunus jumped down over them, and proceeded to sprint away, cops in pursuit. As he ran past the girls, Ruby could have sworn he had _winked_ at Blake.

"Well, you wanted to scope out the competition, there is goes." Yang says to Weiss, who just realises what the blond meant.

"Quickly, after that faunus scoundrel!" Weiss shouted dramatically, before running off in pursuit, Blake and Yang hot on her heels. Ruby shrugs, before quickly catching up with her semblance. Running alongside her team, Ruby can tell Blake is getting very agitated, and Ruby knows the sneaky faunus girl is gonna snap soon. Since that wouldn't be ideal, Ruby makes a reminder to get Weiss to lay off the faunus hate with some viable excuse. Running down a street the police had chased the faunus, Ruby almost ran into someone, but managed to twist out of the way.

Weiss was less fortunate however, running right into the orange haired girl, but seemed to not even care about the fact she was lying on top of someone.

"Damn it! He got away!" Weiss complained as the faunus leapt onto a roof, and out of sight. Looking back at her teammates, Ruby was standing there with a suppressed laugh, Yang was point down at her and Blake was looking down at her as well. She only just noticed that she was on top of someone. "AHH!" Weiss yelled, getting up as fast as she could while trying to look dignified.

It didn't work well.

"Salutations!" The girl said to them, still lying on the ground, but waved at them politely. Ruby looked over at her team, equally confused as them while the girl continued to lay on the ground, smiling at them.

"Um, are you...ok?" Yang asked, her voice sounding rather confused. The girl looked at them for a moment.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The girl said to them with a voice so polite, she had to be messing with them. Looking between each other, RWBY had no idea who this girl was or what she was doing.

Yang, always the one to risk it, looked over at the girl again. "Do you wanna get up?" she asks, to which the orange haired girl nodded, before getting up by flipping. They all took one healthy step back. The girl looked at them again with her permanent smile.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny said to them, still sounding all kind and polite. She had to be joking, there was something weird about this girl.

"Hello Penny, I'm Ruby.", "I'm Weiss", "Blake", "Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Ow, I mean, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny repeated, making Ruby raise an eyebrow, but said nothing, unlike Weiss who pointed out she had already said that. There was something off about her...something that made Ruby very suspicious. Maybe, a little info gathering might be in order...

"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss apologised, and the team turned around. As they were walking away, Ruby turned to the girl and said, "Take care friend." Not really giving her words much thought

"She was weird..." Yang said, mostly to herself.

"Well never mind her, but where did that faunus riffraff run off to then?" Weiss said, looking around. But everyone was very surprised when the girl, Penny, appeared in front of them.

"What did you call me?" She said, to which Yang started trying to apologise, while Weiss pointed back at where they had just left her, confused on how she got in front of them. However, Penny walked past the two of them, and faced Ruby, who was standing tall and staring back at Penny with her eyebrow raised. "You called me friend. Am I really your friend?" Penny asked, her face looking both confused and hopeful.

Ruby, despite looking rather determined, wasn't sure if she should say yes or no, would she be a hassle or not? A moment passed, her team behind the girl clearly saying that would be a bad idea. But, Penny didn't really seem dangerous, despite her flip which seemed rather like she had some measure of skill in...something, be it combat or gymnastics. Shrugging to herself, Ruby sighed, "Sure, why not." and waited for the probable backlash. Which started with her teams shocked expressions.

" _Sen-sational!_ We can paint our nails our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"Penny rambled on, while Ruby moved discreetly over to Yang.

"Is this what girls usually do?" The criminal asked the blond bombshell, who merely shrugged.

"So, what are you doing here in Vale Penny?" Yang asked, curious to know why the odd girl was here. Ruby wondered why as well, and was glad Yang saved her the time to ask.

"Oh? I'm here to fight in the Vytal Festival Tournament." Penny told them, to which Weiss looked sceptical. "Wait, your here to fight in the tournament? You hardly look the part." Weiss says to Penny, who replies, claiming she's 'Combat Ready'. Judging by her choice of language, she's probably from Atlas. They liked their professional way of speaking there. Blake looked over Weiss's attire, before saying, "Says the girl in the dress."

Ouch, it was a combat skirt, and Ruby wore one too...

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss replies, to which Ruby raises a hand, which is meet by Weiss's. Weiss then seemed to realise something. "Hey, wait, if your here to fight in the tournament, do you know that faunus...delinquent?" Weiss said, grabbing Penny by the shoulders. The Atlesian girl didn't seem to mind though, and merely looked at her with her happy look. "Who?" she asked innocently, not understanding what Weiss meant. Ruby sighed, obviously she didn't know, the faunus certainly wasn't from the faunus hating Atlas, so why would the Atlas looking girl know him? Weiss didn't seem to make the connection, "The filthy faunus from the boat!" She almost shouted.

Blake by this point had had enough and was outright glaring at Weiss. Ruby casually put her hand on her scythe, ready to intervene. "Why do you keep calling him that!?" Blake shouted at Weiss, who was shocked the _Blake_ of all people said that. "Stop calling him like scum or a scoundrel simply because he's a faunus! He's a person too!" Blake continued to yell at the unrelenting Schnee.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like it if I stop calling a lamppost a lamppost? Or a chair as a chair?" Weiss retorts, causing Blake to only get angrier.

Ruby and Yang watch on as Blake starts walking away, but Weiss stops to continue arguing. Yang whispers to Ruby, "Maybe we should go?". Ruby shakes her head and walks up to the arguing girls.

"Alright then," Ruby mutters to herself, " **SHUT UP!** " Ruby yells right into Weiss and Blake's ears, causing them to stop arguing and look at Ruby. "Now that I have your attention, maybe we can discuss this like civilised people?"

Weiss and Blake look at their leader, slightly shocked that the kind, but somewhat mysterious Ruby could have such an authoritative tone. It was certain not what they would expect her to act like. Despite both of them wanting to continue their argument, the look Ruby had going _persuaded_ them not to.

"Now, I think we should head back to Beacon and discuss this away from strangers, don't you think?" Ruby said to her team sternly, before turning to Penny. "Penny, we need to go and have a chat, give me your scroll number, and we can meet up later ok?" Penny smiled and passed Ruby her scroll, who copied its data digitally with a hacking program installed on her own scroll. Passing the strange girl her scroll back and bidding her goodbye, Ruby walked her team back to the Bullheads to Beacon. It was about time for a bit of an intervention.

Walking up to the bullheads, Ruby noticed that someone was following them. Smirking to herself, Ruby boarded the Bullhead as the stalker hid behind a wall.

* * *

It was a few hours later, and while Ruby hadn't made her team speak yet, it was clear that the time was to be spent cooling off. Ruby's professional gaze kept watch over the Schnee and Belladonna as they sat at opposite ends of their dorm, waiting for the inevitable talk.

Ruby was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, having spent this time doing three things:

One: Making sure Weiss and Blake didn't try and continue their argument prematurely. Two: To work out how to make the conversation play out how Ruby wanted it to. And Three: Keep an eye on their stalker, who was currently hanging outside their dorm window, clearly waiting for something.

Getting up and moving the other two chairs she needed to form a triangle, Ruby looked at her teammates, Weiss then Blake, before gesturing to the chairs. Blake obeyed without question, while Weiss was about to argue, one hard glare from Ruby made the Schnee move over and take a seat. Looking at the two of them, Ruby sighed deeply. "Now that we are all calm and ready to have a rational conversation, I think it's time we all had a nice little chat." Her tone left no room to argue.

"Now, Weiss, I think you should explain yourself, so we can have a better understanding about why you hate the White Fang and dislike faunus in general, hmm?" Ruby said to Weiss, who sighed and got up from her chair and put her hands on the bookshelf/stand in front of the window. "You want to know why I hate the White Fang, and distrust faunus? It's because my family, and our entire company has been at war with them for years. Actual violence against people. Ever since I was a child, I have seen family friends disappear, board members be executed and so much dust stolen, it makes the dust robberies here look like a bully taking candy from a baby. Mines 'liberated' and the dust destroyed, shops that bought from us being attacked simply because they interacted with the SDC! Even an entire train car has been stolen. And every time my father came back from work, he was furious, which made for a very difficult childhood!" Weiss smacks her fist on the stand. Turning around and looking at her team, she continues, "All the faunus have been to me and my family is a bunch of liars, thieves and murderers." Weiss finishes, sitting down, her face looking at the ground.

Ruby couldn't help but see a shocked, almost guilty look on Blake's face when Weiss mentioned a train. Keeping her suspicions to herself and keeping herself from acting like she noticed nothing, Ruby looks over at Blake. "I think, Blake, you should tell them the truth." Blake looked at her, confused as to what she meant. "You know what I mean, don't try and hide it now." Ruby repeats to Blake.

Blake looks over her team, scared of they might think. Getting up herself and walking to her bed, her back facing her team, she reaches up and pulls at her bow, undoing the knot and pulling it off, revealing two black cat ears. Ruby smiles gently, her guess correct, her team's reactions showing to her. Yang looks at her with a surprised look, but it seems she is more interested by the ears than the fact she is a faunus. Weiss looks at Blake, her mouth slightly opened in shock. Weiss had not expected that Blake was secretly a faunus, and upon realising everything she said about faunus, she knew she had been insulting her own teammate. Blake turned around, her cat ears flicking slightly. "I...was born in Menagerie, and throughout my life, I have only seen faunus being treated unfairly. I took part in rallies and protests, even as a kid. And...when the White Fang was formed as a peaceful group, I was part of it, as were my parents. I thought we were making a difference, but..." Blake trails off, which leads to Yang coming up to her and giving her a small, friendly hug. A moment passes, Ruby watches as Weiss seems to have some sort of internal conflict. Blake continues after Yang lets go, "It wasn't, and when our leader stepped down and the new leader, Sienna Kahn, turned the organisation into the terrorist group it is now..." Blake paused, clearly scared of what she had to say. "...I join with them. I wasn't involved much with the crueller things, like killing innocents or attacking stores, but I was involved in attacks on SDC mines, and I was one of the people that robbed that train. No one else was doing anything! And I honestly thought we were doing the right thing, but until now, I have realised that the White Fang is not helping the faunus, only making things worse!" Blake starts to cry slightly, clearly saddened by having told her team the truth, especially to Weiss, having heard her own story and reasons. Yang once again comes to her aid, letting the cat faunus hug her.

Ruby looked at Blake with a surprise expression, almost shocked that _Blake_ was an ex-terrorist. Or was she? No, she clearly was shamed by her actions, and wants to redeem herself.

Weiss on the other hand, had another shock, that not only was her teammate a faunus, but a _terrorist?_ Weiss looked at Blake with a horrified expression. Ruby, looking over at her teammate, says to Weiss quietly, "Weiss, Blake is still your friend, the same person we know, and she obviously isn't proud of her actions. Give her a chance." Weiss went to say something but stops herself. Ruby watched the expressions play on Weiss's face. Shock, betrayal, fear, concern. It's clear she doesn't know what to think.

A few minutes pass, and once everyone calms down, Ruby faces Blake and Weiss. "Well, now we have that out of the way, I think we need to make sure this isn't going to be a problem." Blake looks at Weiss and takes a deep breath.

"Weiss, I want you to know, that I regret what I did in the White Fang, and that I am no longer associated with them and that I only want what's best for us and our team now." Blake says to Weiss honestly, the Schnee appearing to take what Blake said seriously.

A moment passes before Weiss replies. "I...understand, that you want to make amends for what you did. You are still Blake to me, and I think...that I can try and be a better person, to the faunus and you."

Ruby smiles as the two give each other a hug, her plan to keep her team intact complete.

"Guys, if possible... I want to try and see if the White Fang really is robbing dust stores in Vale. Most of the faunus are just misguided into believing this is good for them. I want to prove it's not them, to clear their name. And prove that I mean what I said" Blake asks her team, much to their surprise. Weiss, somewhat surprisingly, nods.

"Of course, I will help you, it is a noble cause, and we can do this see as a way to prove how much we mean what we just said." Weiss declares, much to Ruby's delight.

"Well, sounds like _fun,_ I'm in." Yang says simply, true to her roughhouse nature.

"And of course, I'm going to help." Ruby says finally. Ruby really doesn't want to, she knows the truth her team doesn't, and this might be a problem. "But first, we have a little problem to handle." Walking up to the window, Ruby draws Crescent Rose swiftly and reaches outside, into the nearby tree. A yell is heard and one pull later, a guy comes flying out of the tree and onto the floor. Ruby positions her scythe on his neck. "Who do you think you are spying on us! Eavesdropping?!" Ruby demands, giving the guy a fright.

"I wasn't dropping any eaves, honest! I was just, uh, pruning the tree!?" the guy, who turns out to be the same monkey faunus from the boat. WBY is looking at Ruby in surprise, wondering how she knew he was there. Ruby pushed slightly down on her scythe, biting into his Aura a little. "OK OK, I WAS WATCHING THE FAUNUS GIRL, BLAKE WAS IT?" the guy clearly wasn't used to people interrogating him with a scythe to his neck. Releasing him from her scythe and standing by the window to block his escape, Ruby gestured to Blake.

"Why are you spying on me?" Blake asked him, who quickly shook his head.

"I saw you at the docks, I wanted to say hi to a good looking faunus like yourself. Name's Sun." Sun said, trying his best to look somewhat impressive. He failed terribly. "Sooo, I heard your talk about the White Fang, and I heard that you want to prove their innocent? Dunno why, but I can give you a hand." Sun said to the girls, who immediately looked interested, except the girl in the red hood. "I heard from some dock workers on the boat I came on, that they were going to be offloading a TON of dust, straight from the SDC tomorrow night." Blake looked happy that Sun had proved that faunus can be trustworthy, while Yang and Weiss looked pleased that they knew where to go, Weiss happy to save company product, and Yang knew it was somewhere she could get into a good fight.

As Sun told them where to meet up with him, Ruby stopped to think. If they intervened the robbery, it would be a great chance to have Blake and Weiss become honest with each other. But...if it was her dad doing the robbery, it wouldn't be ideal for them too cause him more grief from Cinder. Then again, it wasn't like he could be beaten by her team easily, he was far too strong for them. Sun waved goodbye and jumped out of the window, Ruby and co non-verbally decided to go to sleep. As Ruby lied down on her bed, she started think about how tomorrow might turn out.

* * *

 _As Sun made his way to the room at Beacon he was staying at, he thought about what just happened._

 _That Blake faunus, man was she a good-looking girl, and seemed like a good enough person, even though she was ex-White Fang. She was definitely interesting to Sun._

 _It did amaze him that of all people, a SCHNEE had been on her team, and now they had set aside their differences for the sake of their team? That was, in his's opinion, a pretty cool thing._

 _And that blond girl? Well she looked pretty fine, for a human, and Sun wouldn't have said no to her._

 _But that last girl, in the red hood? He didn't know what, but something about her seemed...odd._

 _Suspicious even. She set all kinds of warnings off in Sun's head, and he didn't know why. She seemed nice enough and wanted what was best for her team. Sighing to himself, Sun jumped down the building he was on and into the dorm he was given for the Vytal Festival guests. He'd have to think on it._

* * *

 ** _The next day..._**

Walking down the hall that Saturday morning with her team to breakfast, Ruby had still been unable to make up her mind. She wanted to help her dad, and she knew she should, but this was such a good chance for her team to improve their relations and make Ruby's chance of succeeding here at Beacon better. As they arrived at the cafeteria and went up to the table she shared with JNPR, the two teams had their usual conversations about their usual stuff. Weiss and Pyrrha had a small conversation, Blake was reading, Jaune and Yang were listening to Nora tell a story while Ren merely sat by. Now, normally Nora had weird dreams about strange things, but the one she had last night was really confusing to Ruby. She had a dream that Ruby got betrayed by Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha and some other random students, and proceeded to gather grimm to get her revenge. Honestly, how could Nora have such weird dreams? Ignoring the hammer wielding maniac's outrageous story, Ruby casually pulled out her scroll and typed a small message to her dad.

As the two teams finished eating, RWBY left on a bullhead, heading to the spot Sun had told them to go to later. While they were walking, Ruby open up her phone was about to text her that Penny girl, when said eccentric walked around the corner.

"Salutations, friend Ruby!" Penny said as she walked up to them. "How are you today? Have Blake and Weiss reconciled?" Penny continued.

"Yes, Penny they have. We're just heading to a place a friend wanted to meet at." Ruby said to Penny, who smiled at her.

"Really? Can I come?" Penny asked with so much kindness, it was impossible to say no.

"Ok, but you might need to leave later." Ruby said as they reached the same place they had seen Sun jump off the boat. It was also where he asked them to meet at. Around 30 minutes passed before Sun finally arrived.

"Hey, you're pretty early." Sun said to them casually, before noticing Penny. "And who is this? She isn't on your team, is she?"

Ruby shook her head, "No, Penny is just a friend that came over to say hi." Penny walked over to Sun, greeting him in her strange, formal way. After introducing herself to Sun, he started walking over to a small dock with a couple warehouses on it. "That's the place, the SDC shipment should be offloaded tonight, we can catch them in the act then." Sun explained to team RWBY and Penny, who seemed confused.

"Ah yeah, so Penny, Blake's a faunus, and wants to prove the White Fang isn't stealing dust from stores in Vale. Sun heard about a huge SDC shipment coming in tonight and wants to catch them in the act." Ruby gave Penny the 20-second rundown. Penny nodded and continued walking with them. "Uh, Penny? What are you doing?" Ruby asked, to which Penny looked at her oddly.

"I thought we wanted to catch the thieves stealing dust?" She asked innocently. Ruby was about to say she isn't involved but figured she could use to time to learn about the eccentric girl while her scroll processed the data hacked from Penny's scroll. It had a very tough encryption, but Ruby knew it wouldn't last too much longer. She and Neo had hacked the CCT in Vale for a job once, while Roman and some guys stole from a store, they had caused a ton of ads to start playing on basically everything.

It had been funny!

"Eh, sure, why not Penny." Ruby relents and lets Penny join them.

"So, we got a few hours to kill before night, so we can just go out and do something else. We'll split up in teams of two, Me and Penny, Blake and Sun, Weiss and Yang. We'll meet up here later ok?" Ruby organises, and everyone heads their separate ways. Hopefully, Ruby can learn more about this Penny girl, while Blake can learn more about Sun. He seemed like a nice guy, and it would be a shame to have to hurt him because he knew something about them he could use as blackmail.

* * *

 _Roman was walking up to the map he had in this warehouse. While he owned quite a few, this one was new and hadn't been filled yet, but the raid tonight would probably change that. He had gotten a text from Little Red, saying her team had a little issue last night but had solved it well. To hazard a guess, the criminal guessed the faunus girl had been discovered by the Schnee, but Ruby managed to keep everything from falling into disarray._

 _Well, she was his daughter, and he didn't exactly want her to NOT know how to be a skilled planner and manipulator. Smiling for a few seconds, he shortly went back to scowling as he walked past a few White Fang goons. Really? Why did Cinder insist on having these useless mutts around? They were terrible thieves! Going on and on and on and **on** about their 'Equal Rights strategy'. Honestly, their entire idea was so floored, and it gave Roman a headache to think about it._

 _Walking into a private office area, Roman sat on a chair, Neo relaxing on a sofa with a bowl of ice-cream. Roman hated Cinder for all her restrictions: 'Don't use your experienced and skilled men, use these White Fang mutts, don't use Neo, we need her for our infiltration where we will have her assume a false identity anyway.'_

 _Roman sighed, before looking at Neo. "Neo, can you make sure none of these idiots blow up the warehouse while I'm out? I kinda need this place for the dust storage." Roman says to Neo, who nods and raises a thumb._

 _At least this robbery shouldn't have any issues, it was at night and at an unoccupied dock. As bad as the White Fang was there was no way this could go wrong right?_

* * *

It was almost time, Sun and Blake were waiting for the thieves to show up, on the roof of an office building. Weiss and Yang were in position, hiding amongst the containers that had been left on the dock. They had the SDC symbol on them, confirming what Sun said, and so they waited for Ruby to arrive with Penny, and for the thieves to arrive.

"So, tell me again what the plan is?" Yang said over her scroll, which had been linked to the entire teams at Ruby's suggestion.

"Honestly you dunce, don't you ever pay attention? When the thieves arrive, we wait for them to start loading the dust, then intervene and subdue them." Weiss explains over her own scroll. Yang shrugs and asks, "What if it IS the White Fang? Did we consider that?" That leaves no one to talk about, however Ruby soon speaks up.

"If it is the White Fang, we let Blake call the shots, if you want to try to convince them to stop without violence, it's up to you." Ruby says to Blake, giving her the choice.

A few minutes later, a bullhead flies over the dock, search lights on the ground and looking for any intruders. Whoever was in charge of them didn't expect anyone to be on the roof or in between the containers, as it misses the girls and Sun, and lands on the ground. The ramp extends to the ground and out walks a man in a white top with an image of an animal's head on the back with three claw marks, the symbol of the White Fang. Blake sighs sadly, "Oh no..."

"Is that them?" Sun asks, to which Blake nods as four more members walk out, all armed with some kind of gun or sword. One of them, clearly a senior member with a rifle, starts shouting instructions to the others. "You really didn't think they were behind all this, do you?" Sun says.

"No, I think deep down, I knew that they were. I just didn't want to be right." Blake says and grabs her scroll. "Get ready to move on my go. Ruby, get back here as soon as possible." Blake instructs.

"On it, we're almost there. Penny! Let's go!" Ruby says and hangs up. Blake looks up at the White Fang when she hears someone shout.

"Hey! What's the hold up? We're not exactly a bunch of inconspicuous thieves right now, I suggest that you animals get on with this, BEFORE, someone notices eh?" Roman Torchwick says, walking out of the bullhead. Blake gets up, "This isn't right, there's no way the White Fang would work with someone like Torchwick." Blake draws Gambol Shroud, jumps down and starts running over to the bullhead.

Sun quickly grabs her scroll, "Hey, so some Torchwick guy is here, and Blake is running over to them, get ready in case something happens." Sun says, jumping down himself but hanging back in the shadows slightly. He notices Weiss and Yang doing the same, Weiss behind the corner of a container and Yang laying on top of one.

Blake took cover behind a container and poked her head out. Three of the White Fang members were hooking containers up to metal cords, while Torchwick was talking with the last one. "No you idiot, this is not a leash..." Before Roman could continue, Blake run up behind them, as silent as death itself, and raised her weapon to Torchwick's neck. "Wha...? Ah for fu-" Roman goes to say as the other White Fang members turn around and draw their weapons at Blake, two wielding guns, one with a single sword and the last with two swords. "Nobody move!" Blake says to the White Fang members, Gambol Shroud pulled slightly closer to Roman's neck. The thief, however, seems to be rather relaxed, despite the situation. "Now, now, take it easy little lady, I know what girls your age are like." Roman says to Blake in an almost joking tone. Blake eyes the White Fang as they assemble in front of them. Reaching for her bow with her empty hand, Blake pulls her bow off, revealing her cat ears. The grunts lower their weapons slightly at the sight of her faunus heritage.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?" Blake demanded, her voice telling she was confused as why they were working with a _human_. The grunts lower their weapons completely, think she was some misinformed member. Roman chuckled slightly to himself, "Heh, oh kid, didn't you get the memo?" To which Blake pulled back on her weapon a bit more. "What are you talking about?" Blake demanded. Roman smirks before continuing, "Well, the White Fang and I are on...let's say a bit of a joint business venture together." Blake scowls at Roman, even though he can't see it.

"Tell me what it is, or I'll be ending your little operation." Blake threatened Roman, to which he could only laugh slightly as another two bullheads flew in. Roman raised his head to look at them.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation..." Roman said as the bullheads hovered above them, drawing Blake's attention. Roman discreetly lowered Melodic Cudgel, and fire it into the ground behind him knocking Blake back. As Blake got up, recovering from the blast, Roman fired another shot at her, causing the faunus to roll away in her attempts to dodge Roman's explosives. Running around a container, Roman started walking forward and spinning his weapon by the handle. "You lot get your buds out and get the containers hooked up." Roman yelled over to the White Fang, before turning around again. "Now, where one is, the other three are too. Why is your team here Red?" Roman muttered to himself. As he walked slowly forward, trying to think of a way not to kill his little girl's team, a banana peel landed on his head, messing up his hat. Throwing the peel away and looking up, Roman dodged the monkey faunus that jumped at him with a "Woohoo!". Sun rolled on the ground and got up with a jump.

"Leave her alone." Sun said simply to Roman, who looked very angry that his hat had gotten messed up.

One of the bullheads flew over them, depositing eight Fang members, four behind Roman and four behind Sun. Roman snapped the length of Melodic Cudgel in half, as was meant to be, and loaded a burn crystal into his weapon. "You're not the brightest banana of the bunch, now are ya kid?" Roman said, flipping his weapon together like a double-barrel shotgun. Sun smirk, and as the Fang grunts were about to charge, Roman heard a whistling sound. Two explosive shot landed behind Sun, knocking the grunts behind him back. Yang Xiao Long fell from the sky in a roll, before firing behind her and launching herself at the terrorists. A similar, singular shot had landed behind Torchwick as well, this time being ice dust. Weiss Schnee, ever the dignified fighter, summoned a glyph under herself, and flew at the other stunned White Fang faster than humanly possible. With Roman alone facing the monkey faunus.

Blake, looking at what happened from behind some construction equipment, jumped over Sun, who drew his own weapon, a bo staff that collapsed into two nunchucks, that were also guns. Gunchucks? "He's mine!" Blake yelled as she jumped over Sun, swing her weapon at Roman, who looked rather amused, despite being outnumbered. Blocking Blake's strike, Roman swung Melodic Cudgel, hitting the girl, but passing through her as if she was a shadow, the real girls doing a backflip. She sliced both parts of her weapon at Roman, who blocked with ease, before randomly pushing into Blake's guard and punching her in the face, knocking her back. Sun came in, swinging his gunchucks at Roman, firing while swinging the blunt weapons, while Roman was forced to block the shots fired as if he had a sword. Knocking one of the gunchucks out of the way, Roman jab Sun in the chest with his cane, and swiped it up into the monkey's face. Blake jumped over the stunned Sun, and swing her sword into Roman chest, unable to block fast enough, but his aura absorbing the hit. Roman was sent back a few metres. Getting up, Roman noticed a container hanging on a crane. Roman quickly aimed and fired at it, causing the metal box to fall down, separating Sung and Blake briefly. Blake tried to roll forward, but she came too close to Torchwick, who kicked her in the stomach, and rested his boot on her chest, aiming his gun at her head. However, before he could grab her and use her as a bargaining chip, Yang's Ember Celcia augmented fist came flying at him, knocking him flying off her. Yang offered Blake a hand, who took it gladly. Roman got up, and looked over at the girls and Sun, Weiss just walking over to join them.

"Well then, this isn't ideal..." Roman said to himself, trying to work out if he could get out without killing these damn kids. It was now he noticed Ruby was on the roof of a building, her scythe out and ready. "Well, Hello there Red! Isn't past time for you to go to bed?" Roman shouted at his adoptive daughter, who played along to his charade.

"Give up Torchwick, you can't escape!" Ruby shouted, which caused her team and Sun to look at her in surprise. This being the exact opportunity he wanted, Roman quickly fired a shot at the kids in front of him, knocking them all back. Using this chance to run while they were stunned, Roman ran to the end of the docks, where a bullhead, piloted by one of his own thugs, was. Penny jumped down, having seen her friends being attacked, Ruby following to make sure they were fine. Penny's backpack opened, revealing several swords that seemed to float, but were in fact being controlled by near-invisible wires. Two of the White Fang Yang had beaten had recovered by now, and tried to rush Penny, who responded by swing her swords like a buzzsaw and knocking them back. The rest of the terrorist on the ground, having noticed their friends get beaten so quickly by some girl with floating swords, quickly stop trying to get up. The three Fang Bullheads, however, decided otherwise, and started firing mounted Gatling guns at Penny, who blocked them with her swords. Sending two of them into a nearby wall, Penny flung herself backwards, and landed in front of said wall. Making a gesture, Penny's swords proceeded to from a circle, their hilts folding in slightly, and a green ball of pure energy started forming in the centre of them. Growing to a substantial size, Penny smirked as the ball turned into _a goddamn laser_ and cut the attacking bullheads in half, the pilots falling out from the splits, however they were close enough to the ground that they would be fine. Maybe a few broken bones, but alive. The wrecks flew overhead and crashed in the water. A fourth bullhead was trying to escape with a container of SDC dust, but Penny merely shot her swords into the side of the vehicle, and slowly walked backwards, pulling the bullhead to the ground. As she was doing this, Ruby watched on in surprise. How could a human be doing that? Ruby pulled her scroll out and filmed Penny pull the bullhead down.

As Roman jumped on his escape vehicle, and watched as Penny destroyed three armed bullheads, he muttered to himself, "These kids get weirder all the time, every year..." and pulled down the hatch with his cane. Penny watched as his bullhead flew away, faster than she could use her swords to stop it. As Torchwick made his getaway, the police finally started to show up. Always late.

* * *

Ruby sat on a few boxes with her team, Blake looked rather sad, Weiss was pleased they had managed to save SDC product, Yang contented by a good fight and Penny was Penny. Sun was also there, but he was casually eating a banana. They were waiting for a member of the Beacon staff to come collect them, having explain to the cops what had happened. It wasn't new experience to Ruby, lying to cops, but it was new that she was doing it for a non-illegal reason. As they discussed amongst themselves the events of this evening, Ruby noticed her teacher, Qrow Branwen, walking over to them, as did Yang. Yang quickly got up and shout, "Hey Uncle Qrow, about time!"

Qrow merely sighed at his niece's antics. "I was wondering why Ruby didn't come for practise this morning, now I know why." Qrow says, and after a moment, he quietly says to the huntresses and huntsman in training, "You should have invited me, would have been fun." The girls laughed at the older man's joke, except for Penny, who Ruby noticed being walked away by a man in an Atlesian suit, and over to a car, while Qrow unwittingly distracted them. Ruby had talked to Penny that day, and the girl had let loose that she was visiting early from Atlas Academy, so it was likely she had a chaperone here, and he or she wanted to take her away discreetly. As Qrow walks them over to a bullhead, Miss Goodwitch waiting inside much to the student's, except Sun, fear. Ruby guessed she and the Headmaster would want to talk to the team about it.

As they walk onto the bullhead, Ruby pulls out her scroll, her hacking program finally finished. Putting her earphones in, she started reading.

* * *

 _Cinder watched as Roman returned._

 _Except he was missing the five bullheads the White Fang had. As the man walked up to a table inside the warehouse, Cinder nodded at Mercury, who opened the door. Roman quickly turned around in surprise, Cinder began talking._

 _"How very disappointing Roman, I expected more from you." She began as the criminal recovered from his surprise._

 _"Not my fault you wanted me to work with those useless mutts from the White Fang, so it wasn't easy fighting off six huntsmen in training level opponents by myself. Now, if I could use NEO, I would have been fine." Roman said to Cinder, who was smiling as she walked up to him, her disciples behind her._

 _"You will continue to work with the White Fang, until I say otherwise. But if it really is so hard for you, then I will let take your little assassin with you." Cinder says somewhat mockingly, but Roman knows better than to defy her. "We have very big plans for you Roman, all I need...is a little cooperation." She continues as she lights her hand on fire with the Maiden's Power. Roman looks at, before nodding and walking away, out of a side door._

 _As Roman walks away to where he told Neo to meet him, he pulls out a fresh cigar. Hopefully, he can get his own show on the road when Cinder's gone to Beacon._

 _He just can't wait to get back at her for this._

* * *

 _ **And so with that, the seen part of Volume 1 is complete! Next Chapter: Will be some intermission stuff, like Ozpin interviewing RWBY right after this. However, I want to point out that this chapter, being MASSIVE to all the ones previous, isn't going to be common.**_

 _ **I think**_

 _ **I'll be doing around 6k-8k chapters and 9k+ for big things like this, but this might change.**_

 _ **I kinda thought how odd it was that Sun was casually ready for Blake to run away, I always thought he HAD to be watching them most the time, so I used Ruby grabbing him out the tree as a way to not only keep the events that happen in episode 16 in, but also as a subtle reference; ten points for who gets it k? And because SOMEONE will mention it, Weiss and Blake didn't try and defy Ruby after she interrupted their argument, since they knew from Ruby's look and tone that continuing would be a bad idea in the sense that a brutal beatdown would insure.**_

 _ **And so, I kinda need to explain the long as hell update.**_

 _ **I've been really busy doing all kinds of 'fuuuun' things, and some actually fun stuff, so not much time to work on this, plus Windows has it out for me, since damn Windows updates caused me to not once, but TWICE, rewrite the chapter since I keep forgetting to save my progress. And so this has given me some serious writer's block since I keep getting really into it, but then it is all lost because BS. And don't get me started about going on the fritz, when I DO try to save it cuts out my work half the time, need to rewrite those parts**_ _ **.**_

 _ **I'm not gonna quit, just need to get back into it more...and have Windows stop screwing me over...**_

 ** _I have been writing a little fanfic on the side which I really feel like doing on the side, dunno if I will put a lot of time into it though. Just a casually thing I felt like doing._**

 _ **Any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD**_


	11. Chapter 11: Complications

_**Author's Note: -Insert CoD suicide killfeed emblem-**_

 _ **My Apologies for taking so long, got so many assignments to work on, eating up all my time. I know I said I wouldn't try to take so long, but life doesn't want me to have fun! And all this work is killing my imagination, buuuuut it's holidays now for a little, SO I will have more time to work on it without doing 101 other things, only around 20 or so...**_

 _ **Yaaaaay**_

 _ **Also I blame MGSV: TPP, for making me work on an idea for a story that requires me to get to certain points in order to write stuff that is actually correct.**_

 _ **And Congrats to Kaiser-Frunn and Steel723, you both got them references**_

 ** _Nevertheless_** _ **, on with the story before I hibernate again!**_

 ** _Also I added a poll in case you don't already know, I need some input_**

 ** _Y/N_**

 ** _Edit: Changed a few spelling mistakes is all_**

* * *

Qrow looked around the cramp space of the bullhead, analysing Team RWBY. He had watch them fight individually at Beacon, as well as their initiation, and the veteran huntsman had to admit, the girls had lots of potential.

Unless they got themselves killed doing things like this.

While Qrow had joked around with them at the dock, he couldn't deny that they shouldn't have done what they did so recklessly. They were going up against an opponent much stronger than them and had only managed to win due to Torchwick being surprised and outnumbered.

Qrow had seen the thief during Torchwick's time at Beacon, and he was a very dangerous fighter when he needed to be, using all kinds of low handed moves and cheap attacks, and although Qrow wasn't exactly impressed by his dishonest methods at the time despite Qrow himself been raised himself using them, he had to admit Roman was the kind of person to do whatever he had to do in order to win.

Ruby was sitting next to Yang and Blake, her Aura already mostly finished repairing the damage from Torchwick's shot. While she did have the kind of attitude that was suspicious of everyone, it didn't take a genius to know that she wasn't the one that led the team on their little goose chase. Schnee and Yang also wouldn't be responsible for it either, Yang doesn't go looking for fights on purpose despite loving them, and the Schnee probably would consider it below her, in their typical arrogance.

Which left the Faunus.

Of course, Qrow knew, Ozpin and all his staff knew that she was via her credentials, which also applied to Qrow while he was at Beacon. Even if he wasn't permitted to know their personal info, Qrow was a trained, professional Huntsmen and was well accustomed to telling people apart. Kitty probably heard from her monkey friend that the Fang would be there and wanted to stop them, though her reasons might vary.

To hazard a guess, she wanted to make humans think that not all faunus are like the crazy White Fang lot, and while Qrow could accept that reasoning, he was old enough to realise the risks that came from doing this kind of freelance work.

Team STQR had been the same, in an ironic sort of way.

Cracking his neck slightly in discomfort, he wondered what Oz had in plan for the kiddies.

Arriving back at Beacon quickly enough, Team RWBY, Sun and the teachers left the Bullhead, to which Ozpin was waiting for them. The headmaster didn't look like he was angry, or even disappointed.

"Thank you, Miss Goodwitch, Mr Branwen." Ozpin said to his two friends and colleagues. He looked over at Team RWBY, none of which looked guilty or repenting. "Would you girls kindly follow me. You too Qrow." The teens nodded and walked away with the headmaster. Miss Goodwitch looked at him with an annoyed expression, knowing he would be unlikely to punish them much.

"Chill out, Glyn, I'm sure Oz has something sorted out." Qrow said to the Deputy, who only sighed and walked away with a tired expression. She had given the girls quite a lecture on the way to Beacon and the last thing she would have wanted was to deal with the Headmaster's antics. Qrow shrug and put his hands in his pockets before walking away in a half-hearted attempt to catch up.

Which left Sun standing in the courtyard. The monkey faunus sighed before wandering off to find his dorm.

* * *

Ruby was sitting in a rather dark room, illuminated by a single light with a large window behind her and a wooden door in front of her. Between her and the door, was a plain white table and five white chairs, the one which was empty was positioned with the door behind it. Each of the other four chairs held a member of Team RWBY, with her and Weiss on the sides and Yang and Blake in between them. She moved the one she was on to the side, so in case something came through the window, it would miss her.

There was also the possibility she may have to escape quickly, and this would save precious time getting out of the chair and out the window. However, it was unlikely that she would have to, Ozpin probably just wanted to hear their account on the events that happened but it payed to be prepared.

Qrow was standing in the corner, arms crossed and head down as Ozpin walked in, cane and iconic mug in hand. The headmaster sat in the vacant chair and propped his cane up on the table. Taking a sip of his coffee, Ozpin looked over the girls, examining them before putting the mug down.

"It seems you girls have had quite the evening; however, I would like to talk about certain subjects surrounding your little encounter with a notorious thief and several members of a terrorist organization." Ozpin said, setting his mug down on the table. The headmaster paused, waiting for their response.

"Well, we had a little issue when we discovered Blake was a faunus, but everything that happened at the dock was pure circumstance and luck." Ruby said, to which the others nodded in agreement. Ozpin looked at the girls, before gesturing to Qrow.

"Well, if you don't mind, I would like to talk with each of you privately. Qrow will take you outside. Miss Rosline, you may stay here for now." Ozpin says to the group, to which no one seems to mind. Ruby's eyes narrow slightly in suspicion, before losing the look before anyone noticed. As Qrow led her team outside, Ozpin closed the door and returned to his seat. "Now, I think that we should have a proper conversation Ruby. You don't have to worry about being punished or anything, I just want to know the truth."

"Hmm, that is more or less the truth though sir. How would we know that Roman would be there with the White Fang? Unless your implying one of us _works_ for him..." Ruby trailed off in an attempt to distract Ozpin.

The headmaster however, wasn't fooled by her misdirection. He looked at her with a slight smile, "Now, now. I would never imply that someone at Beacon would willingly work for a man like Torchwick, however I think we both know that you are the kind of person to most likely find out about these things. After all, you knew of Blake's heritage, you never seemed surprised by how she acted."

Ruby looked at him, suspicion in her eyes. "I'm the headmaster of Beacon yes, but I am also a huntsman, it is expected of me to notice these things. Something you do quite naturally might I add." Ozpin added, before sighing. "Listen Ruby, are you sure you don't want to tell me how it happened properly? I promise there won't be any punishments, I would just like to know."

Ruby looked at him, before shrugging. "I don't see why it would matter. We saved an SDC shipment, stop Roman Torchwick from stealing it with the White Fang. I don't see why it should matter anymore." She said resolutely. Ozpin sighed in mild annoyance

"Very well. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to ask you a question irrelevant to our current conversation." Ozpin asked, to which Ruby nodded in curiosity.

"Does the name Summer Rose mean anything to you or sound familiar?"

Ruby couldn't help but get a small frown. Something about that name...seemed...familiar, but Ruby couldn't put her finger on it. Looking over at Ozpin, he had raised one of his eyebrows, asking the obvious question.

"Well, not really, but I might have heard it somewhere before during my life in Vale." Ruby said smoothly.

Not a lie, but certainly not the exact truth.

"Very well, if you remember something, please, don't hesitate to talk to me or Mr Branwen. Thank you for your time, Miss Rosline." Ozpin said, before gesturing for her to leave. Nodding at the huntsmen, Ruby got up and walked out the door. Unseen from the two men, her frown had gotten somewhat more pronounced.

Summer Rose

That is what Ozpin had said, and something about it seemed to ring a memory in her head. An image of some kind of wooden building, and a white cloak stained red...

Ruby grabbed her scroll.

* * *

As Miss Belladonna left the room, Ozpin let out a sigh. These girls really didn't seem to want to tell him the full truth, sticking to the same story of random, blind luck and chance, yet he knew that wasn't the full truth. Looking over at his old student, Ozpin said, "Qrow, can you keep an eye on them? I have a feeling this won't be the last run-in they have with the White Fang or Roman Torchwick."

Qrow nodded before asking, "Do you want me to intervene if they look like they might be getting involved?" Ozpin shook his head.

"Did I when your team did something dangerous?" Ozpin asked, making Qrow chuckle and take a swig of his alcohol. "I take it you noticed?" Ozpin continued. Qrow merely sighed deeply.

"Yeah. Little Red didn't want to look like she knew, but she knows something. Whether it's repressed memories or simply not telling us, I can't tell. I'm not exactly a medical professional after all." Qrow said, a hint of regret in his voice. Ozpin sighed before getting up and resting a hand on his shoulder. He knew Qrow still blamed himself on being unable to find who killed Summer and possibly her daughter as well.

"I know you still are trying to find the answers, but please, don't try anything rash again. I doubt I can protect you if you do something like that again." Ozpin said kindly, memories of an angry Qrow, a now disgraced Atlesian Scientist and lots of fighting came to mind.

Qrow merely sighed again. "Then I take it you also noticed her responses to Torchwick? Her subtle naming convention?" Ozpin nodded. It was curious that the girl didn't seem to think lowly of the thief. Ruby _had_ claimed she was raised on the streets, so it wasn't too outrageous to believe she may have encountered the thief before.

"Feel free to ask her about that if you want. If she knows anything about him, that may help." Ozpin asked, to which Qrow shrugged. The drunk sighed, before walking out the room, Ozpin following shortly before heading to his office. Walking around his desk and taking a seat, Ozpin closed his eyes and crossed in fingers, deep in thought.

Ruby Rosline...

What an ironically coincidental name? Was it truly just coincidence or something more...

* * *

As team RWBY all walking in to their room, none of them seemed to be interested in anything other than sleep.

Just what Ruby wanted.

As the rest of her team got changed and went to bed, Ruby got up and snuck to the door, scroll in hand. Waiting to make sure everyone was asleep, Ruby opened the door quietly and slipped out. Closing it just as quietly, Ruby looked at her scroll and began to type Neo. A few seconds later, the occasionally psychopathic girl appeared in front of her.

"Hey Neo," Ruby said quietly as the two non-related sisters hugged. "My team's dorm is just in there by the way." Neo smiled, before looking opening the door and having a quick look around for future reference. As Neo was about to close the door, a hand shot out and grabbed it, making Neo gasp silently in surprise and step back.

Out came the Blond Bombshell herself, with a confused, and rather annoyed look on her face. "Who are you, and why are you looking in our room? Preferably before I bust out Ember Celica." Yang threatened, not noticing her leader outside as well.

"Yang, get out here before you wake everyone up." Ruby hissed quietly as Weiss' face twisted slightly and Blake's cat ears, under their bow, flickered. Yang finally noticed Ruby, and expression of surprise on her face, before she stepped outside. "Now, before you go and try something we might regret, this is Neo, my unrelated sister. Neo? This is Yang, she's one of my teammates and a friend." Ruby introduced. Yang held her hand out in a handshake, to which Neo accepted.

"Oh, sorry about that, we just got to bed." Yang apologised. Neo gave a light shrug and tilt of her head. It was at this point Yang realised something

"Hang on a sec...how did you get in here?" Yang asked in confusion. Neo sighed silently before pointing at Ruby.

"Neo's semblance can do lots of things, one of which is a teleportation of sorts." Ruby explained before adding with an annoyed sigh, "Also she can't speak and her eyes sorta do their own thing unless Neo needs them to stay the same. Don't know why and you won't ever tell us." Neo gave a soundless laugh before shaking her head.

Yang looked at the dimilitive girl. She was short. Really short. As in smaller than 15 year old Ruby short. Yet despite this, her body was obviously that of someone of around Yang's age. Her hair was brown and pink, and that seemed to be her whole outfit's colour scheme along with white. What struck out to Yang was the fact her eyes were indeed heterochromic, with the same colours as her hair, but they kept changing sides somehow.

Ruby watched as Yang examined her sister while Neo was doing the same of course. Once the two finished Ruby looked at Yang. "Well, I know this might be random, but do you think we could keep this between us? I'd rather not have the others questioning me about Neo." Yang shrug in acceptance. After all, it wouldn't be a problem, right?

"I see...well, nice to meet you. If you ever want to say hi again, feel free. I might go back to bed." Yang said with a yawn, heading back into RWBY's dorm. Once Ruby was certain Yang wasn't trying to spy on them, she turned to Neo.

"Well then, that was unexpected." Ruby said, her left eyebrow raised. Neo looked at her with a concerned expression that only Ruby and Torchwick could ever receive. "No, it shouldn't be a problem." A raised eyebrow. "No, I'm sure it won't, and even if something happens, I'll be able to handle it, you know that." Neo smiled, accepting her sister's insistence. A moment passes before Neo pulls out her scroll. "Yeah, I WAS going to ask you to bring me to dad's, but I don't think that's possible tonight." Neo shrugged before giving Ruby a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Ruby said to which Neo nodded and disappeared.

Sneaking back into her room, Ruby walked over to her bed and climbed in. Yang looked over at her and whispered, "So, would it hurt if we could properly hang out? Like, not in the hallway?" Ruby sighed at Yang's slight giggles before whispering back, "In a day or two, then we can." Yang looked over at her with a smirk, before turning over and heading to sleep.

Ruby sighed and looked up above her.

That might be a problem if Blake insists on fighting the White Fang...

* * *

 ** _The Next Day..._**

It was Saturday, which meant a day off for the students of Beacon Academy. Most teams either went into Vale, trained, studied or hanged out with their team and friends.

Team RWBY decided to spend their morning doing their own separate things, before meeting up that afternoon with their friends in Team JNPR to discuss last night. Weiss decided to have a call with her sister, Winter while Blake had disappeared into the library again. Now usually, Yang spent her time either in Vale or training in Beacon while Ruby...sort of did her own thing. Yang had seen Ruby walking around the main building at Beacon, usually looking over at the elevator as if curious to what it was. Other times she claimed to be in Vale, doing who knows what.

Probably meeting with her sister was what Yang guessed now.

Today however, the two decided to go into Vale with the intent to have Yang a proper chance to hang out with Neo. Ruby had mentioned she had a sister of sorts, but she didn't really talk about it to the rest of them. So, Yang was determined to learn what she could about the two today.

As the two walked down a street, they stopped at a small coffee shop, Neo waiting inside and wave the two over. Taking a seat, Ruby gave Neo a hug Yang raised her fist for a fistbump. The mute gave Yang a solid hit with a smirk.

Yang could see this was going the start of something interesting.

"Hey sis, glad you had time today. Is your boss busy today?" Ruby greeted Neo, who shook her head. Ruby nodded before gesturing to Yang. "Good, now as you know, this is Yang. She wanted to have a proper meeting, hence why I asked." Ruby continued. A waitress came over and asked for their drinks, Neo and Ruby both having cappuccinos and Yang asking for a frappuccino. As they waited for their drinks, Yang looked over at Neo and Ruby.

"Hey, so how exactly did you two meet? I remember you said you're not related." Yang inquired. Despite how she might act, Yang was actually pretty observant and could actually remember little things like that, regardless if she didn't seem like she did.

Ruby looked over at Neo, who tapped the table with her knuckles. "Well...I've known Neo for most my life. I was only an infant when she and this other guy found me on streets. They took me in, looked after me, raised me as best as possible. Neo was only 8 at the time, and the other guy was 20 years old. We did whatever we had to in order to live well. Neo eventually became a...bodyguard of sorts, and made lots of lien from that, while I did odd jobs." Ruby said to Yang, who nodded.

"Wait, what about that guy? What was his name and where is he now?" Yang asked, curious that Ruby didn't mention that.

"Uh, well, we never really knew. We called him Candle, since he had a massive stash of candles that he apparently found. As for where he is..." Ruby trailed off for a second. "Well, we also don't know. He left us when I was 9. Just disappeared one night and never came back." Ruby says. Neo shrugs at her. "Yeah, we were used to looking after ourselves, so we were fine."

Yang looks at Ruby and Neo with a rather sad look. "Oh, I'm sorry, that was pretty insensitive of me." Yang said, however the two didn't seem to mind.

"It's fine Yang, he looked after us and taught us well." Ruby said with a small smile. Neo tapped Ruby on the shoulder. This apparently meant something to her, as she turned and faced Yang. "Yang, I told Neo you were only going to keep this between us, she just wants to be certain you won't tell anyone unless you need to." Ruby said to Yang.

Yang looked at Neo. "Well then, I hereby swear that I will not tell anyone about you and keep yours and Ruby's trust." Yang says overly dramatic, which earns a chuckle from Ruby and a smile from Neo. The waitress chose this time to arrive with their drinks, and the three girls spend the next few minutes casually drinking them.

"How exactly do you know what Neo means Ruby?" Yang offhandedly asked. Ruby thought for a moment.

"Dunno, I just spent enough with her that I just know what she means." Ruby says, giving Yang quite a confusing answer.

"Alright then?" Yang says. A moment passes before Yang's next question comes. "So, where did you learn to fight? I know your skilled Ruby, so I think I can assume Neo is as well?" Ruby looks up for a minute before replying

"We taught ourselves, mostly against people that tried to bully us or take our things. After some time, we spent some time fighting in a small arena fight pit, that might not have been quite legal. Candle taught me the basics and after he left, I decided to use a scythe, while Neo has always had some training, not that she'll ever say how or when." Ruby said to Yang, who nodded.

It seemed to Yang that these two were quite the pair. Raised on the streets as kids, learning to fight. Yang couldn't help but wonder how she would have turned out if she was put in the same conditions. A thought passed through Yang's mind, that made her smirk.

"So Neo, your some kind of bodyguard eh?" Yang asked with a smirk, to which Ruby sighed and gave a facepalm. Oh she knew what was coming. "I'm thinking we should have a spar, see just how good you are."

Neo gave Yang an affirmative smirk, even with look on her face downright vicious. Ruby sighed before looking at Yang.

"This is going...interesting." The red cloaked girl said.

* * *

"Owww..." Yang muttered as she and Ruby walked into their dorm. Yang had no clue that Neo would be so tough. Honestly, her sister pack on hell of a punch and her acrobatics had left Yang standing around as Neo flipped around the brawler.

Ruby patted Yang gently on the back. "Don't worry, Neo beats almost everyone she fights." Ruby said, trying to make Yang feel less down about it. "But she still won't tell me how she got so well trained..." Ruby muttered to herself, earning a small grin from Yang. As the two walked in, Weiss and Blake were already back waiting with Team JNPR and Sun. It seemed Blake had already told them about her faunus heritage, her bow off and ears out. Jaune seemed surprised by them while Pyrrha and Ren both seemed to not be too shock by them.

They would have to work on that.

As they walked in, the first thing they heard was Nora. "Can I touch them?" said girl asked. Blake sighed angrily while Ren told her off. Of course that probably won't stop the manic, but it would have to do.

"Sorry, we're late. Yang was having a spar with a person I know." Ruby said as Yang got on her bed and didn't try elaborating. Weiss looked at them with a face that screamed 'Are you serious right now?' while the rest of them seemed to be rather uncomfortable with the fact someone beaten Yang and left her like this. Ruby shrugged. "They're a very good fighter." she said cryptically.

Weiss sighed before looking over at team JNPR. "Now these two are _finally_ back, we can get onto what we originally asked you to come here for." Ruby took a seat on her bed as Weiss continued. "So we had that little...conversation, when Blake showed us she was a Faunus, and more or less sorted out our differences, and agreed to see if the White Fang was truly behind the recent robberies. Ruby," Weiss gestured to her leader. "Saw Sun over there hanging out by our window, and pulled him in." Sun shrugged and gave a small laugh as Team JNPR faced him.

"Yeah, I wanted to say hi?" Sun unconvincingly lied. No one seemed to be surprised however.

"Actually, how did you notice him? None of us did, even Kitty Cat." Yang spoke from her bed, ignoring the annoyed hiss from Blake.

Ruby shrugged, "Eh, I saw him. When your raised in a potentially violent area, you learn these things quickly." Everyone else nodded or shrugged. It did make enough sense to them even if it's not the complete truth. "As Weiss was saying, I pulled him out of the tree with my baby and... _questioned_ him." Ruby continued the story while patting Crescent Rose. "He said he noticed Blake was a faunus and want to 'Say hi' to her. He claimed that he heard that Weiss' company was having a huge shipment of dust arriving in Vale last night via the docks, and we decided to stake the place out to see what happened."

Everyone one except Weiss and Blake looked at her, slightly confused. Jaune coughed, "Uh, by stake the place out, do you mean watch it?" he asked. Ruby sighed before nodding.

"AS I was saying, we headed down that night and watched the place." Ruby says, looking at Jaune with that end piece. The knight merely shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "We ran into a girl we met called Penny, and she joined us. So we met up at the docks with Sun and waited till that night. I was off with Penny while we waited. A bullhead showed up while I was gone and landed. Some White Fang grunts came out and started hooking cables to the containers." Ruby finished while pointing over at Blake, who took the hint.

"The thief, Roman Torchwick came out, and started directing them. I snuck up behind and him and tried to see why the White Fang were working with him..." Blake pauses for a second. "They seemed to have made some deal with him and are now working together, for some unknown reason. He got the jump on me with an explosion as more bullheads arrived and knocked me back. Sun stopped him from coming after me for a second while Yang and Weiss took down the faunus that were on the ground. We tried to fight him, but he overpowered us and almost killed me. Yang managed to surprise him and get him off me." Blake stopped after noticing the look on JNPR's faces. This had been the most she talked in one go to them and was really confusing to them, judging by their shocked expressions.

"Annnd so me and Penny showed up, Torchwick surprised everyone else with a shot of blast dust, knocked them down while he escaped. Penny took down the White Fang's air support with some kind of REALLY cool swords that attached to her backpack and could shoot LASERS!" Ruby said excitedly. Even criminals could have eccentricities, like weapon loving.

Team JNPR took this with a grain of salt, even if they believed what Ruby said. Pyrrha looked at her, polite confusion in her eyes. "So, please tell me again. Why did you want to lets us know?" the champion asked. Ruby shrugged and pointed at Blake and Weiss.

"Well, we wanted to have our close compatriots know in case they ever heard about anything that might be relevant to Blake. She wants to try and work out why Torchwick and the White Fang are working together, and any possible assistance would be helpful." Weiss explained, to which no one disputed her reasoning.

Jaune nodded and replied, "Well, we'll let you know if we hear anything or need a hand." Team RWBY nodded. With nothing left to say, JNPR left the room and headed across the hall and into their room. With them gone, team RWBY started to work on seperate things. Ruby grabbed her scroll, and put her headphones in.

Opening her contacts and selecting her dad's scroll number, Ruby waited for a moment as it dialed.

"Hello." Roman said

'hi dad" Ruby replied over text.

"Ah why hello daughter mine, I was wondering when we might get a chance to chat." Roman said, obviously clueing in on what happened last night.

'not my fault, team wanted to find out if WF were behind the robberies. couldn't act like it was nothing after all.' Ruby type, to which Torchwick shrugged.

"Eh, I'll live, shame you couldn't tell me about it. Almost had to actually try against your friends, and you know that probably would end badly even if I didn't try to hurt them" Roman continued.

'sorry, but i doubt i can tell you whenever we do something like that. others may get sus about you knowing about it.' Ruby continued to which her dad sighed in acceptance.

"That's fine, don't want you to risk getting hurt is all. So, has Cinder arrived with her team yet? Or are we still on the waiting list?" Roman asked to which Ruby shook her head.

Ruby notices Yang trying to sneak over to see who she is talking with. 'dad, anonymous, teammate looking over' Ruby quickly typed, to which Roman's screen disappears and changed to a black, empty view.

"So, who you talking to?" Yang asked with an overly expressioned smile. Ruby removes a headphone and looks at her.

"Someone I know from a place." Ruby said. "No one you would know or care about." she continued when Yang didn't move.

"What's it about?" Yang asked with the same annoying smile. Ruby sighed heavily.

"A person. that I know. that sells parts. That I USE. for MY weapon." Ruby says to Yang, who shrugs and goes back over to her bed.

"Alrightly then, it better be that and not some secret lover we don't know about." Yang said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Ruby sighed before shuddering slightly. Seriously? Her and her dad? Even if they weren't how they were, that would be pretty weird. Looking back over to her scroll, Ruby typed to Roman, 'yangs gone now, can continue'

"Wow she seems to be a intriguing person that has little respect for privacy." Roman said jokingly. Ruby merely shrugged. Roman gave her a small chuckle before turning more serious. "So is there anything else we need to talk about? Oh yeah, I got them micro cameras you wanted, hopefully my seller can procure them soon from Atlas, should be in Vale within the week." Roman said to Ruby who smiled.

'thx dad, also the only other thing i need to ask, is that the headmaster and mr branwen asked about someone that I need to talk to you about in person. ill see you next week about it k?' Ruby typed, and Roman shrugged nonchalantly.

"Alright then, if you think it's important to talk about in person, I got no problem. Well, I gotta go and see what Neo wants, she has that look about her that says she wants to tell me something. Bye Red." Roman said and before Ruby could type back, her dad hanged up.

Well then...this mightn't end well.

Well, hopefully nothing should go wrong.

* * *

 _"Oh you have got to be joking! Little Red's blond friend knows about you!? How did she find out?" Roman shouted in annoyance. Neo shrugged in apology before whipping out her scroll._

 _"Ohh, so Red asked you to come by and she surprised you. Riight then. I do take it you made enough reason that if blondie does see you with me, Ruby can be linked as innocent and unaware?" Roman asked, his annoyance mellowed over by concern about Ruby. Neo nodded in response, earning a relieved sigh from the thief._

 _Well it seems that Ruby had a little more to talk about when she came by..._

* * *

Ruby switched from her contacts and onto her decryption program.

Ruby was honestly confused with how much security was around Penny. Her scroll had been decrypted, and yet little to nothing was on it. The encryption had to be Atlesian Military, the coding was too similar, and yet the only interesting things Ruby could find was two scroll numbers, one addressed to a person designated, 'Father' and the other, more exciting, 'General Ironwood'.

Penny had a direct contact the Atlesian General himself, and yet even THAT had been coded in such a way, somehow only Penny could contact him with some other, non-existent code. The only other thing Ruby could find was something that linked to some other electronic that Penny must own, but why she had two scrolls was beyond her.

And that lead to the other problem.

Apparently, Penny _**herself**_ some kind of encryption, which made no sense unless she had some kind of...electronic implants of sorts. Ruby discovered this after breaking past the scroll. And breaking through this one was being troublesome. It was constantly adapting, changing in such a way that every time she tried to hack into it, it managed to reject her every time.

Ruby was by no means an expert in hacking, but she knew enough that she could break into the Atlesian Military Network and CCT. This however, was way too hard for her.

Even Neo couldn't break into it.

* * *

Penny smiled as her subroutines prevented another intrusion into her personal network. It was curious that the General wanted to test her abilities in cyber warfare, but Penny didn't question it.

Only a few of his technicians knew about her as well as Father. It was obviously one of them.

* * *

Ruby sighed before giving up for now. It wasn't worth the effort at the moment.

As afternoon turned to night and everyone fell asleep, Ruby laid in her bed, and pondered.

Who was Summer Rose?

It was familiar, that much was certain to Ruby, and yet she couldn't picture more than a white cloak, silver eyes and hair similar to Ruby's. Faint memories of a wooden cabin too rose, but Ruby couldn't name the place. She was certain she hadn't been there before, the only times spent out of Vale was either escorting products or in the wilderness with Neo, learning to fight the Grimm with her sister.

Who was Summer Rose?

* * *

Summer...

Qrow hadn't had a good lead in years. Ruby's reaction was probably the best he had in the last six years, and that one had probably been a drunken hallucination. Even now, Qrow still regretted that night.

That he couldn't find her in time...that he couldn't find her murderers...

Or Summer's child...

Qrow should have stayed in contact with them more. But he had a job to do then and couldn't get back in time to save Summer.

If this Ruby girl had answers, He would find them.

Hearing his scroll beep, Qrow put his glass on the bar and looked at it. Yang sent him another message, wonder what firecracker wanted now? Qrow picking his drink up again and opening the message.

Red eyes widened

Glass shattered

Qrow ran...

Boy did Qrow run. Qrow may not have liked Raven much anymore, but she needed to know.

The image showing on his scroll flashed once more before the man's eyes, one of Yang taking a photo of Ruby in some kind of training ring with another.

Neopolitan

* * *

 ** _Dun, Dun, Duuuuuun_**

 ** _And so ends another chapter of Torchwick's Little Rose, and boy are things getting...interesting, to say the least. Don't worry, we will go into season 3 before shit REALLY hits the fan._**

 ** _Seems stuff is going down...What will Roman tell Ruby? Is Ozpin starting to link the dots? How exactly does Qrow know Neo?_**

 ** _And what will he do?_**

 _ **Any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD**_


	12. Chapter 12: Guess Who's Back

_**Author's Note: SO...**_

 _ **Hi?**_

 _ **First of all, I'm going to apologise for not updating in forever despite me predicting I would be able to earlier, like I said I have some issues and I spent some time trying to get things under wraps so I didn't do anything stupid. I did try to write some more, but over the course of time, I lost a lot of the urge I had to write the story and my ideas and writing just didn't seem up to par. Now, when I say I lost the urge to write, I don't mean that I don't want to write the story any more, I mean I didn't get the feeling to sit down for a few hours and write non-stop. So, hopefully you all can forgive this, like I have said I don't want to half-ass anything for the sake of getting it done.**_ _ **I don't want to sound like I'm bullshiting, but that's all there is to it.**_

 _ **Well then, on with the show, cliffhangers need to be**_ _ **solved.**_

 _ **Or do they... Eh maybe?**_

 _ **Also, I went back and retconned Weiss' mother's name, because at the time of writing, I totally forgot Kali was a character**_

 _ **Edit: I had someone tell me that it's not coming up as updated and still saying when I removed the notice.**_

* * *

 _ **Some time Later...**_

Ruby wasn't sure why Qrow had asked her to bring Yang next training session.

She had gotten a message on her scroll from Qrow asking for her to bring Yang, but the grizzled huntsman hadn't given her much of a reason. Perhaps it was a family issue, though Yang hadn't been acting abnormal from usual. So it left it to Qrow wanted to tell them something as a team, or something had happened to someone in their family.

But then again, it could be _something else..._

But the chances of THAT happening would be absurd, also why waste time bringing Yang to see them arrest Ruby or something like that?

Ruby was contemplating this while Teams RWBY and JNPR were having breakfast. Yang was bugging Blake, who closed a book Ruby hadn't seen before. The faunus seemed to be a little more protective of this book in particular. Perhaps it was a momento from her time in the White Fang or something sentimental like that, not that Ruby particularly cared. She may be a thief, but Blake was a good enough friend for Ruby to respect her privacy for now.

Actually, it was quite strange, Ruby now considered people such as Yang, Blake, Weiss and JNPR as her friends...she was supposed to be a criminal yet here she was; sitting in a school for huntsmen and making friends that might turn on her if the truth got out. It was pretty surreal when she thought about it. Would these people still be her friends if or when they found out her relation to Torchwick? Would they demand explanations or expect her to atone for her crimes, or would they support her and seek to understand?

Ruby's thoughts trailed back to her mentor's request. It was quite confusing why Qrow wanted Yang to come with her, even though she had another three days before their next session. Looking down at her scroll, Ruby re-read the message, examining it.

'Bring Yang next lesson, I need to talk to the two of you' Short, Simple, to the point with not much for Ruby to contemplate. Even if she had another three days until her next training session, the questions built up as Ruby's curiosity continued to strive.

Ruby sighed and went to put her scroll away when it was suddenly snatched out of her hands. Ruby looked up with an scowl, letting Weiss understand she didn't appreciate having her device taken.

"We all agreed as a team not to text other people during meals." Weiss said sternly, to which Ruby sighed.

"Alright fine..." Ruby muttered before Weiss gave back her scroll.

The heiress then looked over at the other members of the team. "Now that you are all not distracted, I believe we need to talk about what we are going to in our free time. After all, exchange students _are_ arriving for the Vytal Festival, and I believe we should spend our time perfecting our skills and examining our competition." Weiss says.

As Weiss went on about the benefits of studying their competition and practising, Ruby watched as Nora flung food at Yang, who was widely opening her mouth and eating it mid-flight. Ruby watched in mild amusement as Nora started looking around for something bigger, however she soon looked away from the bomber and made to get up, food finished off.

"Hey Weiss, I'm just going to hand my tray in." Ruby said to Weiss, who looked around at that exact moment, only to make sudden contact with a cream-covered pie. As the delicious pastry fell from the heiress's face, all that could be seen was a glare so intense, it was literal causing the air around the girl to freeze slightly. Yang looked on in amused shock, as did Blake. Looking over at JNPR, it was clear who threw it, what with Pyrrha being be Pyrrha, Jaune looking in confusion mixed with that lovely shock that was going around, Nora pointing over at Ren with guilt written over her face and said ninja was having a nice discussion with his palm against his face.

Ruby looked over the teams, and wisely moved back a few steps as Weiss's glyphs appeared and began launching projectiles of all kinds at JNPR, though mostly at Nora. Ruby let loose a small giggle as the time honored shout went out.

"FOOD FIGHT!"

* * *

It had been a long time since Ruby had been involved with harmless fun like a food fight. Well, as harmless as a bunch of super-powered teens could be.

Before any fond memories could be reminiscent upon, Yang came flying in through the roof, breaking a hole that Professor Goodwitch had fixed temporarily. With all the destruction that the two teams had made, Ruby could tell that the cafeteria was going to need a professional to fix all the damages. Still, she could tell the Goodwitch has surprisingly adept for someone whose profession was killing Grimm. Maybe she did a side course on architecture?

Actually, Ruby wouldn't have been surprised if this wasn't the first time she had to fix something with her abilities, so it would make sense.

A round of laughter soon began throughout the two teams, looking around and realising the mess they had made because Weiss had gotten a pie to the face. Ruby, who had a delighted smile on her face, noticed Ozpin talking to Miss Goodwitch, who seemed to be annoyed. Watching from the corner of her eye, she watched as the two of them walked out the cafeteria. Curious, were the teachers letting them off even though they destroyed the cafeteria?

As the two teachers walked away, Ruby drew her attention to her team and friends, who were casually talking and laughing like nothing had happened just a few minutes prior. Shaking her head, a smile still on her face, she turned and addressed the teams. "We should probably head back to our dorms and get cleaned up," Ruby said, before looking over at the multicoloured appearance of Team JNPR with a mischievous grin. "Well, you guys more than us." Both teams laughed as Nora gave Ruby a fake pout while Pyrrha ignored the comment seemed to just enjoy herself while looking over at Jaune.

Ruby looked over at the two and shook her head once more before leading the teams out, waving at a manically grinning Sun and the frowning guy with was supposed to be blue hair turned purple.

* * *

"Listen you little punk. If it were up to me, I would take you and your little street rat friend here and I would..."

"Do what exactly Roman?"

Cinder's words echoed throughout the facility as she appeared on a lift behind those two little morons of hers. As the lift descended, Roman let out a slightly forced laugh.

"I'd uh...not kill them for almost making a problem?" Roman said carefully, hoping it wasn't going to be one of those days. While Roman may not have liked the White Fang, he really had to sympathise with those that tried argue with Cinder. He liked not being a toasted steak on the sidewalk.

"Cinder!" Annoyance 1 said as she turned and walked to her boss. Employer? Friend? One sided Lover? Roman had no clue why that girl was obsessed with Cinder.

Cinder strode forward and past Emerald, much to the girl's disappointment. "I thought I asked you to take care of the would be runner?" The pyromatic said, her eyes glowing along with the markings on her dress.

"I had a plan that would have been a lot less conspicuous than two teens walking into a shop and killing the owner." Roman said politely while Annoyance 2 walked over to Annoyance 1.

"Two packed bags and a ticket to Vacuo say he was about to leave before you could. Mercury and I took it upon ourselves to kill the little rat!" The green haired rat said, trying to discredit him to Cinder. Honestly, while Cinder was a pain and constant death threat, those two _really_ got on Roman's nerves. When Mercury and Emerald started discussing how he was actually a Puma, Cinder cut them off./

"Did I not specifically order you to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder asked the two, her annoyance clear in her voice. Roman pointed at the two as he remembered that talk with a shit-eating grin on his face. Oh how he loved it when Cinder turned on her little kids.

"I just...I thought..." Emerald muttered trying to justify her and Mercury's actions. Cinder looked at the two before cutting her off once more.

"Don't think. Obey." Cinder's hard tone bleeding through to enforce her words while Roman mimed a neck slit behind her for his own amusement. With Emerald's confirmation, Cinder than turned to Roman, that expression on her face that screams "You should really not be here" clean once more.

"And you. Why wasn't this done sooner?" Cinder questioned. To which Roman looked at her, before looking around and gesturing wildly at the containers of dust around them.

"I'm so sorry that I've been too busy stealing every speck of Dust in Vale, it happened to be what you wanted me to do." Roman said, he's own annoyance starting to show. Honestly, did they expect a thief like him to not be doing much? Such disregard for his abilities.

"I'm sure you're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and ski mask." Mercury deadpanned while Emerald tried to stifle her laughter.

Roman stared at the trio, before bursting into speech. "I've got the city running like crazy. Cops more paranoid than the General of Atlas, I've all but crashed the Dust Economy and, we have enough Dust crystals, vials and rounds that there's nothing we can't do!" Roman finished his tirade with a flourish at the containers behind him to illustrate his point. Flicking Melodic Cudgel behind his back and turning to face his 'employer', Roman continued with a mask of fake politeness. "And speaking of such; if you guys wouldn't mind letting me in on the grand master plan, it COULD make my next selection of scores _a little smoother."_ Roman annoyingly finishes while gesturing at Cinder with a clenched hand.

"Now Now Roman, all I need from you is to have a little faith." Cinder says as she walks towards the master criminal, her tone in mock pity. "You'll know what you need when you need to know." she continued, placing her uncomfortably warm hand on his chin while her eyes began glowing brighter. Roman offered a quick grunt before looking away. Perhaps he had pushed her a little too much. As Cinder removed her hand and turned to walk away, she continued, "Besides...we're done with Dust." Now this was a surprise...

"Huh? Okaaaay, then what now?" Roman inquired, curious to learn what she wanted from him. She looked back at him, before continuing to walk away.

"We are moving. Have the White Fang clear out the warehouse. Details and coordinates will be sent to you tonight." Cinder said in an authoritarian voice. Roman can tell that it seems like something big was coming up soon...hang on a second...

"Wait coordinates?" Roman asked, confused to as what the women in red meant. Why would he need coordinates?

Cinder paused, then turned to face him. "We are proceeding to Phase 2." She said ominously, before finishing her walk away as her two henchmen took the hint and started to leave. Phase 2? What was Phase 2? Roman scowled as he check his pockets for a cigar. He was going to need the stress relief.

As he patted himself down looking for his custom lighter, he looked up and saw that little sneak thief had stolen it. She poked her tongue at him, before chucking it back at him. Roman scowled deeper as the trio left. As he smoked his cigar, he opened his scroll and signalled for Neo to come by. The little girl appeared next to him shortly, looking at him with a confused look. Letting off a deep sigh, he turned to his partner.

"Well, you heard her. It seems things are about to get serious. Work out when you can get Ruby. We need to have her conversation since she got kept at school and now to tell her this." Roman says to Neo. The dimulitive girl nodded at him, before disappearing off. Roman sighed, hiss eyes feeling tired and mind knowing the next few days were going to be so damn painful trying to get those dumb idiots to move this Dust without blowing it all up. Moving his free hand to massage his eyes, he noticed his cigar was missing.

"Damn it Neo..." The thief extraordinaire muttered before moving over to the grunts from the White Fang. "Ok you lot, change of plans, straight from the top. We are moving this stuff out!"

* * *

 ** _The Next Day_**

Today was a free day for the first year students. As such, many spent their time socialising, practising their skills or studying. People could be seen all over the school doing so.

Team RWBY was in the library as they planned and thought about what to do next.

"So, I send in the Atlesian Air Fleet, however I'll leave them along your cities borders and out of range to slowly drain you of resources, taking advantage of the fact your also surrounded by Ursai to completely cut off your capital from support. Assuming that your trap card is direct combat, you can't do anything to stop me and will be forced to surrender in three turns! Mwahahaha! Victory for Atlas!" Ruby exclaims, much to her friend and current enemy's terror.

"You absolute fiend!" Yang says dramatically.

Yes. Team RWBY decided the best thing to do in their free time was to play a tabletop game. While the two more excitable members of RWBY were playing with gusto, Weiss merely looked confused while Blake seemed like she didn't want to be there and had something much more important to do. As Yang tried to tutor Weiss in the amazing ways of tabletop games. Ruby looked over at Blake, who seemed be quiet and moody.

Or quieter and moodier than normal.

Ruby could tell what happened at the docks had probably shaken her a bit. It wasn't until recently that she started to seem out of place. Perhaps she just needed someone to talk to about it...

As Yang managed to convince Weiss to invade Ruby's own kingdom (much to the criminal's horror), Sun and his blue hair friend appeared and began walking over to them.

"Sup losers" Sun said jokingly to them as they and JNPR, who were near them, look at the two newcomers.

"Hi Sun." Ruby said

"Ruby, Blake,Yang... Ice Queen." Sun addressed the four while Weiss muttered to herself about that nickname. "I never got to introduce you to my friend and teammate. This is Neptune."

"Hey, but aren't libraries for reading?" Blue-hair Neptune asked.

"THANK YOU" Ren said in the background while Nora suddenly shouted out pancakes. While Ruby loved things like pancakes, Nora's love for the food was just plain obsessive.

Sun briefly told off his nerd..er..'intellectual' friend, who then properly introduced himself. Ruby sat back as two conversations started as Neptune seemed to take interest in Weiss while Sun commented on Blake playing a card game.

"Well..."Blake said before getting up, "I'm about finished for today. I'll see you guys later." she finished and walked away. While everyone looked at this in confusion, Nora looked up and only had one comment.

"Women"

Ruby looked at Nora with a raised eyebrow. The pink bomber only shrugged before going back to sleep. Ruby shrugged in return before looking at her remaining teammates. "We better go see what's up with her." Ruby then turned to her friends before addressing them, "We'll see you guys tomorrow." Sun nodded while JPR waved goodbye. The three women got up and walked after their fellow teammate, curious to know what her problems are.

"Is anyone going to take the board?"

"Eh, don't worry, me and Ren can make sure no one takes it. Yang or Ruby will come back later and get it."

* * *

"...Whether we're ready or not!" Blake concluded her little rant. Ruby looked at her and sighed. She probably should have taken charge instead of Weiss.

"Well, if I've learned anything over the course of my life, then do something yourself if you know everyone else won't do it right. If your worried that the police and huntsmen won't be able to handle the situation, then do something about it to help them actually get it done." Ruby says to Blake, who looks at her with a thoughtful expression. A moment passed before anyone raised their voice.

"Well if that's the case, why don't you guys help me find out what they are planning and stop them?"

Well...it seems the situation might turn against Ruby.

"Hell yeah! I love it when your feisty."

Oh...this isn't looking good...hopefully Weiss will-

"Eh, it does sound pretty fun."

Well then...

"He eh, of course I'm in. I'd be a hypocrite otherwise." Ruby finished with a smile, while on the inside she was smashing her head on a brick wall. How could this turn on her so abruptly?

"Well now that we are all in agreement, I'll be heading back to the library to get my board game. Byyye!" Ruby said as she ran out to get what see legitimately forgot and to also make a call. As the red haired girl ran out of her dorm, she was met face first into someone's chest. Ruby bounced off with an annoyed groan at her accident. "Ohh sorry about that." She apologised to who she ran into...

"It's ok, just watch where you're going next time."

Oh damn it...

"Yeah, I know..." Ruby said putting on a facade at the expense of Cinder's minions. "So... I'm Ruby. You're from Mistral right?" Ruby continued as she noticed someone behind them.

"From Haven to be precise." Cinder said as she moved past Emerald to address Ruby herself.

Ruby nodded while making sure she didn't she seem like she recognised them. "Oh ok, here for the Vytal Festival correct?" Cinder nodded before Ruby continued. "You know exchange students have their own dormitory right? It's east of here." Ruby continued.

"Yeah, we just got a little lost is all." Mercury explained before he and Emerald continued on their way. Cinder turned to face Ruby.

"Thanks, maybe we will see you around?" the pyromatic girl said before continuing.

"Maybe. Welcome to Beacon!" Ruby said courteously, before continuing to ran down to the library. As she ran, Ruby couldn't help but groan at how many problems rose up in a single day.

Her dad was going to be so annoyed.

* * *

"Well this is actually pretty good news Red, good work on giving us a hint on Cindy's plan and an excuse for things to go wrong." Roman said with an affectionate smirk at his daughter's apparent success.

Huh.

That wasn't expected.

"Uh, wait...what? You're not mad?" Ruby asked, confused to why her dad was as happy as he was.

"Well Red, Cindy is changing things up, so I want us to be able to get a step up before we have a problem. This just makes that step a bit easier us to get what we need. I'll explain more when you come by. Honestly, I would say you should show up more or at least take the time to call more often, it's like you have no appreciation for your family anymore." Roman joked to his daughter, who just giggled in response.

"Alright then dad, I see what I can do." Ruby promised before finishing her call. Putting her scroll away, she looked into the window of an exchange team's dorm. When everyone's backs were turned, Ruby popped her hand in, putting tiny, round adhesive object on the windowsill. Quickly disappearing before anyone noticed her there, Ruby landed on the side of a walkway into her dormitory block. Opening up her scroll, she looked through the camera, but found it was glitching out with an ERROR displayed on it. 'Likely something blew something inside it..' Ruby figured as she walked past one of Beacon's many gardens outside the dorms.

* * *

 ** _The Next Day..._**

It had been a dull and boring day.

Weiss frowned slightly at her thoughts. Had it really? Or was she just growing complacent? No. It had been boring as can be. The heiress simply shook her head and looked down at the time.

3:59

One minute, then they can actually get to what they actually wanted to do that would be significantly more productive than listening to Port's speeches or Jaune's terrible attempts to ask her out.

Honestly, how plebeian would it be to watch a movie for a date?

As the alarm for the end of class went off. Weiss got up and began walking away. As she did, she answered him at last.

"No, No, No, Yes." Weiss said without looking back, much to Jaune's dismay. As the rest of RWBY walked past the unfortunate Jaune, Yang pat him on the head to comfort his failure.

Ruby on the other hand, was busy thinking and thinking hard. The others wanted to go out tonight and work out what they could to figure out what Roman was doing with the White Fang. Reflecting on his comment yesterday, Ruby was in the midst of deciding whether to see how things went or intervene and stop her team without making her seem suspicious.

Perhaps her dad had a point. Ruby justified as they arrived at their dorm. 15 minutes later, everyone had changed and were ready to move out.

"Huh, wearing that outfit again are we Ruby?" Yang said with a grin. "Remember how we kick the hell out of those twins?" Ruby looked at the blond with a dead expression.

"Wait, you knew Ruby before Beacon?" Weiss asked, to which Yang became her dramatic recount of how they met. Except for Ruby occasionally cutting in to amend the truth to Yang's extravagance, Weiss and Blake looked completely unsurprised.

"Well, now the Yang has finished, we can get done to business. Everyone go over their roles." Ruby instructs her Team, before her attention is drawn to Sun casually hanging outside their window, and somehow only Ruby notices this. Sun waves at her while Blake goes over her infiltrating a recruitment ring. Ruby raises an eyebrow at him, but says nothing.

You'd think they would learn from the first time.

As soon as Yang finished explaining her role, Ruby addressed the Monkey in the Room. "So, now we are ready to begin, can I ask you, Sun, why are you hanging from that tree again?" Ruby requests from Sun, who grins at RWBY, much to WBY's surprise.

"I was hoping to join you girls in getting back at that Torchwick guy." Sun nonchalantly explained, much to Blake's apparent annoyance.

"WE are going to investigate the situation. As a team." Blake deadpans to the monkey, who continues to look nonplussed about.

"They don't want to get friends involved in this Sun. Personally, I don't mind having some backup." Ruby offered to Sun, who nodded at her explanation.

"I reckon you should always get friends involved. Heck, that's why I brought Neptune with me." Sun said, much to everyone's confusion. Sun pointed out the window. Team RWBY looked out past Sun, to see Neptune on the side of the building barely standing on a small ledge.

"How?" Weiss asked

"I have my ways. But seriously, can I come in? It's really high up here you know." Neptune asked with a brief look down.

After letting him in, Ruby looked at the pair of misfits, then looked at her team before making a decision.

"All right, Sun? You go with Blake, two faunus will give you more credidance and better chances of getting in. Neptune? You're going with Yang since she hasn't got a partner and might want the backup." Ruby declared, much to Blake's light annoyance and Weiss' disappointment in partners.

"Uh, well maybe I can take Neptune and you go with Yang since you might run into someone you know from your time...as...you know..." Weiss weakly tried to ask. When Ruby looked at her, then at Neptune, Weiss averted her gaze. Ruby laughed before walking back to Weiss.

"Only people I know sell things, and information is not one of them. Plus if I know who Yang's talking to, I know he would like seeing both of us." Ruby said as she dragged Weiss out, who comically slide along the floor. "Come on Weiss, you can flirt with blue hair boy later."

* * *

The two of them were walking towards the CCT tower when Weiss sigh in annoyance. "Remind me again, why are we going here instead of making the necessary call at the library?" Weiss asked Ruby, who was looking at the tower.

"Well, Ozpin doesn't want us getting involved remember? So if he was to learn we made a call about something like this, he would get suspicious and he'd get on our case about it. This way, we don't have to worry about Beacon getting concerned." Ruby explained. It made perfect sense plus was a good excuse to get out of worrying about Cinder catching on easily. Weiss on the other hand sighed and admitted defeat. When she looked up, she noticed a ginger haired girl they hadn't seen in awhile.

"Hang on, isn't that Penny?" Weiss said to Ruby, who looked over to where she pointed at, and sure enough, the ginger was standing there looking at the CCT. Ruby looked at Penny, who didn't seem to notice them.

"Ok then, Weiss, you go and make the call while I see why Penny disappeared back at the docks." Ruby said to Weiss before walking off before the heiress could get a word in. Weiss sigh again before walking over to the CCT.

When Ruby reached Penny, she gave the girl a tap on the shoulder. The ginger turned her head and saw Ruby, who smiled at her. "Hey Penny. It's me, Ruby. How have you been since the docks?" Ruby asked politely. For some reason, Penny looked really spooked.

"Uh, I think you...are confused." Penny said in a careful, almost robotic way, before hiccuping. She looked at Ruby, who was merely confused, before turning and walking away, "I have to go."

Ruby looked at the girl confusingly before following her.

"Penny, you know who I am, you reaction is true enough so tell me what's up. I haven't seen you in weeks since those men from Atlas escorted you away." Ruby said stopping in front of Penny, who looked at her with a concerned expression.

"I think you are mistaken." Penny said, her tone still careful and almost scared in nature. She tried to walk past Ruby, but Ruby put an arm out in front of her and move in front of her again.

"No, I am not. Penny, tell me what happened. Me and my Team are looking into it, and you may have information that can help us. So please, tell me as your friend." Ruby asked, to which Penny visibly flinched after being called her friend. Penny looked around briefly, as if scared someone would notice her, before leaning closer to Ruby, who looked at her with a happy expression.

"It's not safe here for me to talk about it. Do you know where somewhere less open we can talk?" Penny asks Ruby quietly. Ruby nods, pulling out her scroll and opening a directory to a small cafe, before giving it to Penny to see. "Ok, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." Penny said, before walking away, this time Ruby not stopping her.

A few minutes later, Ruby is waiting outside the same cafe she pointed out to Penny when she notices the awkward girl approach the building. Finishing the small coffee she bought, Ruby gets up and heads over to Penny. "So Penny, let's take a walk and then we can start talking about what happened ok?" Ruby says to which Penny nods silently. The pair begin walking along the street in silence, before Penny spoke up.

"I know you want information on Torchwick and such, but unfortunately, I can't help you as I don't know anything about them outside common knowledge." Penny says at least, much to Ruby's indifference. That isn't what she wanted, but she at least had an excuse to Weiss now.

"Sure Penny, that's ok. I was wondering, what exactly happened when you got taken away. Who were those men? Family of yours or associates?" Ruby asked, to which Penny looked away briefly as if contemplating her words.

"They...work with my father. They were asked to look after me, since I've never been to another kingdom before. My father is a very worrying man, but he does love me very much. He asked me not to venture too far, and he just got worried I might be hurt." Penny explained in a fair enough reasoning. Ruby however, couldn't help but notice her pause. Penny might have her reasons, but they do seem strange to the young thief.

"Well, don't worry, that is apparently very common from what I hear." Ruby says, sticking to her cover story for Penny. The ginger looks at the red-haired girl confused.

"Do you not have a father?" Penny asked curiously. Ruby just shrugged and left it how it was.

To be fair, while Roman was her dad, he wasn't her biological dad, and sometimes, she did wonder just who her actual father was. With the strange images in her mind from that night Ozpin asked about a one Summer Rose, someone that might have been related to her by family name. While school had kept her from asking Roman about that, she knew she would have a decent time soon.

"So anyway, why didn't you contact me sooner? You have my scroll number after all." Ruby said. She briefly thought about how much security had been on that second device, and all she knew about Penny is that she has links to Ironwood.

Penny paused for a second, before continuing. "I..was asked not to talk to you, or Weiss, or Blake or Yang, or anyone really."

"Why did you dad ask you that?" Ruby asked, though Ruby had a suspicion that it wasn't her father's doing.

"Well, it wasn't him who asked me..." Penny said as a small demonstration occuring in a nearby park. Ruby and Penny looked over to see a small presentation on the Atlesian Knights series, being orchestrated by the popular General himself via hologram. Ruby eagerly watched as the General showed off the new 200 series, before watching the hologram of the 'Paladin' appear. The weapon geek in Ruby exploded into action, looking over the non-existent mech with eager eyes. Penny on the other hand, started to get concerned and look frightened.

"Uh...Ruby?" Penny asked concerningly, gazing at two soldiers nearby.

Ruby looked at who Penny was looking at, and as she did, the two noticed them, and one started to talk over a radio. Penny turn and broke into a sprint, while Ruby quickly following in turn as the two men went after them. Running down an alleyway, Ruby, with a touch of her semblance, boost forward and caught up to her. As the two ran, they went out onto a street and as they went into another alley, a car almost hit one of the soldiers. Ruby could notice Penny cringe in fear when she heard. The two went past a small stand with crates on the top, letting Penny get some distance, Ruby sliced the leg out and dodged out of the way to block the path. Penny, however, seemed to have made more distance than expected, so Ruby pushed herself forward with her semblance and caught Penny, before launching them down a different alley. However, Ruby felt her semblance drop and she accidentally dropped Penny, before sliding onto the street. Dazed, Ruby looked up at the upcoming truck, which didn't have time to break. Trying to move before she got hit Ruby almost lost a leg, however Penny suddenly appeared and stopped the truck with her bare hands.

Wait, how?

Ruby looked on as her friend saved her. But saw Penny look at her hands, which seemed randomly shiny. Penny looked at Ruby, before started to run away as people started to notice what had happened. Ruby quickly chased after the strange girl as those two soldiers arrived on the scene. Ruby followed Penny who had stopped in an alley behind a store. Penny looked around, panic clear in her body and looking around.

"Penny! How did you do that? What's going on?" Ruby asked, confused and worried for her friend.

"I...you don't have to worry-hiccup!" Penny said, her hiccup sound random and forced.

"No, I do Penny, you just saved my life. Please, tell me why were they chasing after you." Ruby pushed, noticing the shining on Penny's heads.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Penny said before hiccuping once more. Ruby, while somewhat still rattled, noticed a trend with the hiccups.

"Penny, calm down and relax. I'm your friend, you can trust me to understand ok?" Ruby asked quietly and calmly, which in turn cause Penny to relax slightly. The ginger walked right up to Ruby, and looked her deep in the eyes.

"Your my friend right? You promise that you are my friend?" Penny asked, still looking panicked but calming down. Ruby nodded in confirmation. Penny looked down at her hands, then slowly opened them up.

Inside her palms, where what should have been bleeding and crushed hands. Were bright shiny steel.

"Penny..." Ruby was without words as it all connected together. The second device and it's security, why she had Ironwood's contact, why she hiccuped everytime she lied.

"Ruby? I'm not a real girl. Most girls are born, while I was made in a facility. I am the first synthetic human to be capable of generating an Aura..."

Penny looked down at her hands as they showed her true form. She closed them and closed her eyes. Or what they were supposed to be.

"I'm not real."

Penny felt her hands open, then felt them touched by another. Then Ruby took her hands and held them in a comforting grip. Penny looked up sadly at her first friend.

"Penny. You are real. You make your own choices and you have your own thoughts. You are as real as you can be. You have a heart and soul, if not you wouldn't have Aura and you wouldn't be you. That is what matters. Not how or what you are, but who. Even if you are made from metal and steel instead of skin and bone, your still a real person." Ruby says wholeheartedly.

"You...are taking this extraordinarily well." Penny noted, to which Ruby shrugged. "Aw...you're the best friend anyone could ask for!" Penny said before grabbing Ruby in a hug, however due to size, Ruby ended up with her face being smothered and muffled.

"I can see why your father would want to look after such a delicate flower..." Ruby said to herself mostly, but Penny let her out of the hug smiling and nodding.

"Yes, he's very kind. He's the one that made me." Penny said in such a lighthearted tone, "I'm sure you'd just love to meet him."

"I'm sure he is. Did he build you by himself?" Ruby inquired, curious to learn more about the human that was a android. Penny shook her head however.

"Not entirely alone, he had help from Mister Ironwood." Penny helpfully informed, to which Ruby understood now why the soldiers seemed to be so vested in getting to them.

"So that's why the soldiers were following us, they wanted to look after you?" Ruby inquired once more, for Penny to confirm with a nod.

"They like to protect me too." Penny said chipingly, however the disbelief on Ruby's face seemed to think otherwise. Penny looked down for a second. "They aren't sure if I'm ready yet. One day it will be my job to save the world, so that's why my father let me come for the festival; I want to see what it is like in the rest of the world, and to test myself in the tournament."

"Alright then." Ruby said, before noting something she said. "Wait. Save the world? From what, it's a time of peace?" Ruby asked, concern ripping across her face.

Penny looked at her with a confused expression. "That's not what Mister Ironwood told me..." she said in a confused voice. Before she could continue, Ruby heard voice behind them. Likely the Atlesian soldiers. Before Ruby had a chance to scram, Penny heard them and picked her up.

"You need to hide." She said as she walked over to an empty trash bin. Ruby wiggled around as she tried to break the robot girl's grip, but was unable to.

"Wait! Why! Why do you need to go with them now?!" Ruby frantically said. She needed to know what Ironwood had said! However, Penny put her into the dumpster, then looked at her.

"Don't worry, they just want to look after me is all. They are nice people. I just want to keep you out of trouble." She said, ignorant of what Ruby had meant. "You can't tell anyone my secret ok? It's important." Penny said to Ruby, who nodded in confirmation. The two soldiers came around the corner as soon as Penny had started walking away. Ruby watched as they question her, before asking her to come with them. Penny had been right, they seemed like nice enough people.

Ruby got out the second they had left, and brushed herself off. She fully planned on keeping her promise to Penny. She'd be a hypocrite otherwise.

After all, Penny wasn't the only person that was something they didn't seem to be. Hearing her scroll go off, Ruby pulled it out only to see a missed message from her dad. She opened it and her face became concerned. Immediately after, she received another, this time from Neo, which caused her to groan.

Neo had sent her a picture of Blake and Sun running out a warehouse. An Atlesian Paladin chasing them with White Fang decor on it. On top of it, she put a name on it, while in the background White Fang prospects and grunts alike were panicking. Ruby groan again as she realised a group call from Blake came through, but alas, she entered it.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need backu-!' Blake was cut off by Sun screaming "HEEEEEEEEELLP!"

"They got a robot, and it's big, really big. That Torchwick Guy is in it!" Sun continued, while Ruby silently facepalmed. She was going to have to fight her dad in a mech. Ruby began running to the signal. In fact the only things that were immediately good was that she got to fight a mech and had a reason to ask if she could get one and learn to pilot it.

"..It didn't eat him or anything, he's like, controlling it or something!" Sun continued

"Where are you guys?" Yang said over the call, only for Sun to scream "HUUUURRRRRRRRRY" and a faint echo to come from Yang's scroll.

Ruby sighed. "Ok, everyone, get to Blake as fast as possible!"

This was going to be an awesome but weird fight.

* * *

Ruby watched as Blake swung Yang into the Paladin, and proceeded to use her semblance to destroy the advance technological marvel in a single punch.

Truly, Yang's semblance was unfair.

As the mech fell apart, Roman Torchwick rolled with it and rolled into standing upright. Ruby saw her dad mutter something, probably about getting his suit dirty. He dusted himself off and just then Ruby noticed he didn't have Melodic Cudgel. Her eyes widened as she watched Yang fire a shot at him, one that would likely hurt him a bit. Ruby was almost about to leap forward and stop her when the shot hit Roman and he shattered into glass. Their team looked around while Ruby discreetly blew a sigh of relief. A bullhead flew off with the real Roman in it, Neo barely able to be seen behind him.

It seemed that they were not at risk. For now.

Sighing, Ruby looked to her team. "Well, I guess we better head back to Beacon and wait for Ozpin to notice."

Before her team could agree with her, another voice came from behind them.

"Well, I'll admit, I never did fight a mech in the streets of Vale when I was a school."

* * *

 ** _And Like that I'm back_**

 ** _I'll try to keep up the work because I left another cliffhanger, even if it's obvious_**

 _ **Remember, any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD**_


	13. Chapter 13: The Truth Always Gets Out

_**Ok, so to all that do it, Merry Christmas and have a nice Christmas. Consider this my present to all of you.**_

 _ **If not, I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy yourselves with this chapter. I put a lot of time into this, and it was till 1am Australian time ON CHRISTMAS DAY that I finished writing and editing, so I hope you all appreciate it. I'm going to regret it though, I have family to visit lol.**_

 _ **This one was a bit of a doosy. This chapter will either be one of the best, or the worst, up to you guys to decide.**_

* * *

Qrow watched as the four girls all turned to him in surprise.

"At this rate, I'd think you girls are actually out trying to get in trouble, but I was by no means a ideal student when I went to Beacon." Qrow said while walking up to them. The older huntsmen took a swig from his flask before continuing, "Now, I think you girls can go home now, I'll make sure your buddy Torchwick doesn't land around here soon." Qrow finished, walking past the girls who stared at him in confusion.

"So...you're not going to punish us?" Weiss asked with concern.

Qrow paused for a second, before looking back. "Not my problem, Ice Princess. Tell your sister I said hey." The Branwen said before continuing to walk away, much to Weiss' confusement. Weiss looked at Yang, who proceeded to shrug.

Ruby too looked at her mentor confused, then back at Weiss. Did Weiss' sister and Qrow know each other?

"Well, I think we should probably head back before the police show up and we get in trouble again." Ruby said to her team's acceptance.

Half an hour later, they found themselves walking back to their dorm, discussing the events that had transpired, Ruby of course keeping Penny's secret to herself, when RWBY happened to walk past Ozpin and Goodwitch.

"Ah, Team RWBY, may I talk with you for a moment?" The headmaster said, silencing their conversation. Silence filled the air before the headmaster continued, "I assume you know what I want to talk about?" Ozpin asked.

"Sure, why do you want to talk about it?" Ruby asked, looking between the teachers.

"I just wanted to make sure you girls were alright, and that what I was told was correct." Ozpin said with a discreet grin, unnoticed by combat professor.

"Sure, we were out and we saw some White Fang outside a warehouse, and we got noticed by Torchwick, who was in one of those new Atleisan Paladins and he tried to chase us, but we beat him and he ran." Ruby said without pause, to which her team looked at her in surprise.

Ozpin, however, nodded, "Good, that is all I wanted to know, thank you for your time, Team RWBY." With that, the headmaster and professor walked away. As soon as they were out of hearing, Weiss turned on Ruby.

"I thought we were trying to NOT get in trouble?" Weiss frowned with crossed arms. Ruby shrugged at her partner and team, who had adopted similar expressions.

"Think about it, Qrow was there and likely saw what happened so even if I did lie, Ozpin would learn the truth from Mr Branwen." Ruby explained, and her teams quickly turned from confusion and annoyance to understanding.

"Well, I guess that is fair enough." Weiss said shortly. Ruby smirk as the team resumed their walk back to their dorm. Arriving there, the team quickly changed into their sleepwear. Ruby looked over at her team, who were all already lying in their beds.

"Well, we'll go over everything once more at breakfast tomorrow, make sure we know everything and nothing was forgotten." Ruby declared before turning off the lights. A round of goodnights went of and the team proceeded to swiftly fall to sleep.

After some time past, Ruby slid out of her bed and walked out of the dorm, making sure no one woke from her opening the door. In the hallway, Ruby proceeded to turning her scroll on and opening her contacts list, finding Neo's name quickly enough. With a short request, the multicoloured girl appeared next to her and with a blink of the eye, the two appeared in their house lounge room, Roman already relaxing on a couch.

"Hi Dad..." Ruby said with a yawn before taking a seat next to the thief.

"Hey Red, have a late night? Doing your homework and making sure your up to date with assignments?" Roman joked to Ruby's amused nod. "Now, I probably know why your here, so I assume you want to tell me something?" Roman said as his voice turned serious. Or more serious than usual.

"Yeah, so first, sorry about what happened, I didn't check to see about that rally and I had no clue that was were Blake was going." Ruby started, Roman shrugged in acceptance. "Also, Cinder and her two whatevers arrived at Beacon the other day, they claim to be from Haven, uniforms and all. I tried to place that little camera in their room, but they seem to have taken account of the chance something like that happening, the camera blew a few circuits and is basically useless now." Ruby continued, and once more Roman shrugged.

"Well, shit happens, just keep an eye on her and her cronies, and try to get in their way if you can." Roman said. "Just remember, I don't want you to risk yourself or anyone you don't want to. I'll try and do my best to avoid hurting them, but you know I will if I have to." Roman continued.

"No no, I understand, don't worry Dad." Ruby reassured Roman, who nodded.

"Now, if there is nothing else, you want to have that conversation now?" Roman asked as Ruby blinked in momentary confusion.

"Conversation..? Oh yeah, the one after the docks I wanted right." Ruby asked to Roman's confirmation. "Yeah. So after we went back to Beacon, we had a chat with Ozpin, and after he finished talking with me privately, he asked me if I had ever heard someone's name. I was wondering...?" Ruby paused for a moment, before continuing.

"Have you ever heard the name Summer Rose?"

* * *

Neo loved to watch the world burn.

She found watching things going on around her amusing to watch. Maybe because she can't speak, she just grew accustomed to it, but nonetheless, it was a past time she loved.

Except when it effected her or those closest to her.

"Have you ever heard the name Summer Rose?" Ruby had asked. The ensuring silence was telling.

Roman briefly looked over at Neo, and in his eyes, Neo could see a plethora of emotions, questions and answers all coming to her friend. Roman looked away and placed his hat on the table and ran his ungloved hand through his hair. Both girls looked at him with concern, Roman got up and walked into his room. He was in there for awhile before he walked back out, an old scroll in his hand and a picture in the other. He placed the scroll on the table and held the picture in his hand, the image on it out of sight of the two girls. Roman took a deep breath before saying anything.

"What do you know about yourself Ruby?" The man said, his voice being clear of any kind of underlying tone. No joking or mocking demeanour. Nothing.

"Uh...You found me as a toddler, in a side alley somewhere in Vale. You took me in and raised me. You didn't know my last name, but it didn't really matter. We've become the best criminals in Vale and I'm currently at Beacon. Why did you want to know what you already know?" Ruby asked, confusion ripe in her voice. Neo was also confused, why would Roman ask such an idiotic question? Neo looked at the master thief, who was split between looking at Ruby, that old scroll and the photo. In fact, the scroll looked kinda familiar.

"Ruby, when I found you and took you with me, I found this scroll." Roman said after some time, gesturing at the scroll in question. "On this, all I could find was your name and an image. That thing has run its course, but I backed-up the image in case." Roman continued, motioning to give Ruby the picture, but stopping himself. "Ruby. I need to make sure. What I'm about to tell you and give you will be very VERY important. Can I trust that you can compose yourself?" He questioned, his force for once being truly serious. Neo frowned slightly and her eyebrows furrowed. Roman was being really abnormal about this. The ice-cream loving girl sat up from her seat and looked over at the two. Roman's face continued to be a mess and he seemed...almost afraid. Meanwhile Ruby's was a mix of confusion and concern, clearly not understanding what was going on.

Ruby nodded and before Roman passed over the picture, he turned to Neo.

"Neo. Would you please, wait outside for a moment?" Roman asked to Neo's furthering concern. She nodded and walked out the front door, closing it behind her. It was a little cold, but nothing to complain about.

A few minutes past, and all Neo could hear was faint words coming from the two she considered family. Suddenly the voice got louder, and the door opened suddenly, causing Neo to activate her semblance on reflex and appear inside again. Ruby ran out of the door, tears in her eyes, her semblance active and the red reaper disappeared. Looking back inside, Roman was sitting down, his head facing the ground. The picture was on the table, but the scroll was missing. Roman himself seemed to be out of it, and getting closer, Neo could hear him taking a few deep breaths. Neo picked up the photo, and looked down on the image.

It showed a young Ruby, the same age as when Roman had found her all those years ago, sitting on the lap of a similar looking women in a white cloak in the same fashion of the cloak Ruby had. Neo remembered that Ruby had that cloak since they found her, and had extended it's length to match her height. Sure, she wore it a bit differently occasionally, but still, the resemblance was uncanny.

It then clicked in Neo's head.

It was Ruby's mother.

Neo looked over at her friend, who looked back up her. Roman's eyes seemed a little red, and before she could get a good look at him. Roman got up and walked away. He briefly stopped. "Neo, make sure she's ok." Roman said shortly, before walking off. Neo nodded, despite not being seen, and went after her little sister.

It took Neo sometime, and a hint from a very confused and concerned Yang, to find Ruby sitting on the cliff she had killed that Nevermore, the Emerald Forest spread out below them. Neo disappeared briefly, then reappeared next to the little girl with the red cloak, and draped a blanket over her shoulders. Neo sat next to her surrogate sister and pulled Ruby into a tight hug. The two sat like that for a few minutes, before Ruby spoke up for the first time.

"I-i-i-i didn't know. Y-you guys never told me..." Ruby stuttered as tears continued down her face. Neo pointed at herself and shook her head. She hadn't known anything more than Ruby other than her mother had died with Ruby. It wasn't like Roman to keep things to himself, but seeing this, it made sense in Neo's eyes. But...

Maybe not so much to Ruby.

Ruby went to speak again, but stopped, took several deep breaths, then continued, "He told me my last name was Rose. And...we both came to the conclusion that..." Ruby trailed off, Neo pulling into her embrace once more, patting her on the head gently.

And so, the two sisters sat there for awhile in silence. As time passed Ruby got up, looking at Neo, "I have training in a few hours with Qrow...thank you." Ruby said quietly, before disappearing with her semblance. Neo shrugged before getting up herself.

She did her part, Neo could only hope Ruby could handle herself.

She was a tough girl, Neo had faith in her little sister.

* * *

Qrow had wondered how Ruby was surprisingly OK with a weapon rarely used, but given who she knew, it didn't surprise him too much.

Ruby swung her leg into the back of Qrow's leg, causing him to fall slightly. He blocked the scythe aimed for his neck, then knocked Ruby back with a reversed swing of his sword. Ruby fired behind herself, stopping her momentum. She brought her gun to her side and fired, before repeating the action and zig-zagging towards him, dodging Qrow's shells. Reaching her target, she brought down her scythe in a downwards arc, cleaving through the spot Qrow had just been. Collapsing Crescent Rose into its gun form, she swung it like a bat into his sword, knocking it to the side, then shooting him point blank in the chest. However, before she could pull away safely, Qrow's sword managed to flail forwards and weakening her grasp on her weapon.

Qrow suddenly moved forward and knocked her scythe out of her hands with a kick. Ruby, unperturbed, jumped back before using her semblance to run behind Qrow, leg raised into a kick. Qrow moved his large weapon behind his back to block her kick, however the short girl was in front of him instead, and proceeded to kick him in the chest. Smirking at his failed prediction, Qrow swung his sword forward in a large arc, Ruby ducking to avoid, however the girl tripped and fell on her back. Qrow moved to put his sword at her throat, but the red haired girl rolled to her side then backwards, picking up her weapon at the same time.

Qrow pulled a trigger, causing his weapon to extend into its own scythe form, before putting it behind him and firing himself towards Ruby. She cut an arc down in front of her, trying to hit the huntsmen, but he knocked her scythe away with a spin of his own, swept her legs out from under her, then aimed his gun down at her face, ending the fight.

"You've definitely gotten better, and your ability to not rely on your weapon is becoming more prevalent. You need to take care not to put yourself in a position where an opponent with a weapon like ours can block you and then knock you over. At the end there, I knocked you down because you didn't account for my weapon's length." Qrow said, helping Ruby up. The girl had been unusually quiet when she had arrived, and forgotten to bring Yang with her. When Qrow had asked her, Ruby had merely said that she had been busy and forgot.

"Hiyas! Good job Ruby, you gave my uncle a nice little challenge." Yang said walking in, Ember Celica on her wrists and dressed in her combat clothes. Ruby said nothing before looking down and muttering quietly to herself. Yang looked at her team leader with a concerned look. "Ruby, why weren't in bed last night? I woke up and you were missing." Yang asked the red girl, whos only reaction was her shoulders sagging a little. Qrow looked back at his student with surprise and, surprisingly to himself, a bit of concern.

A few moments past before anyone spoke up, and, surprisingly, the first to was Ruby herself.

"I...had some problems...family problems...I had to address." Ruby murmured quietly, barely heard to her audience of two. Yang walked up to her and grabbed her by her shoulders gently.

"Did something happen with Neo?" Yang asked with concern. Qrow's looked at the two a little harder, unnoticed by them.

So, they did know that girl...

Knocking the expression of his face before either could notice, Qrow noticed that Ruby had started to look at Yang, who fussed over her like a mother does their child. Qrow coughed, getting the attention of the two teammates. "Don't get me wrong, I do hope you're alright Ruby, I have some questions to ask you two." Qrow said to the two, trying to sound kind. Ruby took a deep breath as the two girls nodded. "I wanted to ask about this girl, Neo. Yang showed me a picture sometime after that dock thing you girls were up to. It should you two and Neo, I was wondering, how much do you know her Ruby?" Qrow asked.

An expression other than sadness appeared on Ruby's face, one of suspicion and concern. "I...have known her since I was really young, she and another guy who disappear raised me as a child and we are close, really close." Ruby explained suspiciously, Qrow looked at her and realised he needed to be very careful about this.

"Ok, can I ask how much you know of her past?" Qrow asked carefully, trying to maintain his illusion of calm. Ruby looked at him, her expression loosing for a second, then tightening.

"Not much, other than she was alone most her life and was raised a fighter." Ruby said, clearly trying to piece together Qrow's intent.

The huntsman looked at the girl, before letting out a sigh. "I know that girl, it's been years since I've seen her, and the last time I did, she was running away trying to escape me and my sister." Qrow said, much to Ruby's shock. Qrow continued, "As I told you, me and my tribe had a frankly fucked up thing of sending teens out into the world to train them. Me and my sister, Raven, met a small, 5 year old, mute girl outside a small township in Atlas." Qrow watched as Yang started to join the surprise chain. Qrow knew he probably shouldn't talk about Raven, but Ruby should know, and Yang was hopefully smarter then the young girl he saved from Beowolves. "We took her in for some time, looking after her. We taught her to fight, how to steal and how to survive. Heh, she was a quick learner. Anyway, one day, we found ourselves in need of money, and instead of doing some work, Raven took the little girl and robbed a place. As they escaped, Raven tried to use her semblance to let them escape, but soldiers that patrolled the almost caught them, and didn't give them time to escape. The girl, in this moment, tripped and broke into glass, and appeared in front of me. A few seconds later, Raven ran around this corner, shot up a little, and saw her, yelling at me she abandoned her which let the soldiers have an excuse to shoot her. I was an easily angered teen, and rather protective of my sister, so I didn't think, but did. I tried to grab her and throw her to the soldiers, but she once again broke into glass and disappeared. We saw her run away and into a nearby trainyard, but with those soldiers after us, we had to run. From that day forward, we never trusted anyone again, until we met Ozpin."

Qrow finished his little story, and the two girls in front of him had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Don't think on it too much, just keep it in mind. Class Dismissed."

* * *

 ** _Two Days Later..._**

Weiss was sure that she was the only normal one left on their team.

Actually, Yang was alright, she just had occasionally spaced out, apparently thinking about her mother. The problem was with Blake and Ruby.

Blake's problem was in fact, rather simple in the eyes of the heiress. She was spending her time 'researching' into the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, that despicable man. She spent more time looking for information on them that she was failing at work, her grades were suffering, she hardly payed attention and was barely sleeping. While some might think otherwise, Weiss truly did care about her faunus friend, they had worked past their differences and had become friends despite everything saying they should hate each other. Weiss had discussed it with Yang, and the two of them were going to have a team sit down this afternoon.

As Weiss watch Pyrrha start wiping the floor with those annoying boys from CRDL, her mind trailed off to her leader, Ruby. Weiss had promised to be a great teammate and partner, and, for the time, they had stuck with that appropriately. Weiss did care about her friend, but something over the last few days had caused the eager and determined 15 year old to become a shadow of her former self. While Blake's problem was understandable and could easily be solved with a bit of sleep and reprioritization, Ruby had seemingly just given up on anything non-school related. While she did get her work done, slept for an appropriate number of hours and still managed to stay on top of her grades, she had none of her prior enthusiasm or any urge to do anything. Most days, as soon as they had finished eating or classes, she would disappear only to appear later that night.

As Pyrrha slammed Cardin into the ground, Professor Goodwitch called the match. After some points from their combat teacher, she sent the boys off, then turned to face the class. "We have enough time for another match today. Would anyone like to volunteer?" Professor Goodwitch asked the class. Weiss noticed a guy behind them with gray hair and a Haven uniform adjust how he was sitting, as if he was going to volunteer, then suddenly Ruby put her hand up almost haphazardly from her previously slack position. "Thank you Miss Rosline, nice of you to contribute in class now. And now to find you a match." Professor Goodwitch said, before Ruby shook her head, then pointed down at Pyrrha, who looked confused.

"No, I'll verse Pyrrha." Ruby said simply, her voice clear and plain. Professor Goodwitch looked towards Pyrrha, who shrugged and declared herself well enough for another bout. Ruby got up and went down to the arena, pulling Crescent Rose from her back. Yang and Weiss looking on with confused, and concerned expressions while Blake managed to break out of her lethargy and eyes widened at this random sight.

As the dome around the area reappear, Weiss watch on as the two prepared to fight, Pyrrha adopting her standard posture while Ruby rested her weapon on her should, still in its gun form.

* * *

Pyrrha was a little tired, and concerned for her friend opposite to her. Ruby's teammates weren't the only ones that noticed Ruby's sudden change, much to Jaune and her concern. But if Ruby wanted to have a bout, then Pyrrha wouldn't rob her of one.

The two stood across from each other, waiting for the Professor's signal. A small alarm went off, and the two began circling each other, waiting for the other to start the match. Pyrrha move, Milo raised and facing Ruby behind Akouo. The red haired 15 year old still hand her weapon on her shoulder, ready in its gun form. Pyrrha stared at Ruby intensely. Why would Ruby still have her weapon in such a vulnerable fo-.

Suddenly, Ruby adjusted her weapon on her shoulder, facing behind her, and she fire, launching herself at the Champion and swinging her collapsed weapon like a club. Pyrrha quickly parried the weapon, and thrusted Milo at Ruby's torso, who quickly adjusted and let the blade slide past her. Ruby kicked Pyrrha back and used her kick's momentum to knock herself back. Letting her weapon uncollapse into its full glory, she swung the scythe around to her target from her right side, before firing and swing in from the left side with the scythe's edge. Pyrrha deflected the scythe with Milo, the slammed Akouo into Crescent Rose's shaft, pushing the girl back. Pyrrha moved forwards, swing Milo rapidly from left to right, Ruby blocking with her weapon's shaft. As Milo swung at Ruby from the left side, Ruby suddenly _dropped her weapon_ which the sudden action forced Pyrrha to drop Milo or risk the blade on Crescent Rose cutting her forearm. Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals, then suddenly felt a kick in her back. Pyrrha went with the kick, bending over and performing a forward kickflip, kicking Ruby in the jaw.

Ruby, uncaring for the powerful kick, moved forward and gave a roundhouse kick swiftly towards Pyrrha's head, but the champion blocked it with her arm, then punch forward with her shield, knocking Ruby back. Unfortunately, she landed right next her weapon, and proceeded to fire it at Pyrrha's legs. Pyrrha jump briefly, using her Semblance to assist in getting a little extra height, then with both her jump's momentum and a touch of her semblance, moved close enough to stop Ruby from firing. However, mid jump, Ruby managed to land a shot on her heel, much to Pyrrha's annoyance in both her bad luck and lack of awareness. Ruby fired once more, launching herself back and into a ready position, scythe raised behind her.

Pyrrha quickly picked up her sword, then moved forward. Pyrrha threw Akouo, forcing Ruby to move out of the way or risk getting hit. With this distraction, Pyrrha jabbed her sword into Ruby's guard, hitting the girl along the collarbone. Ruby tried to move out of the way with a shot of her scythe, but Pyrrha swung forward again, smiting Ruby along her back and causing the smaller girl to grunt in pain. Swiftly picking up her shield, Pyrrha shifted Milo into it's rifle form, and started to fire at Ruby, who was forced to spin her scythe around to block the shots. Moving forward, using Akouo as a brace for her weapon's gun form's accuracy, Pyrrha ran forward and shifted her weapon again into its javelin form, Pyrrha spun around while keeping her shield in perfect position to block an attack, she put Milo on her shoulder then jabbed at Ruby, who deflected the polearm and proceeded to swing her weapon around her in a wide arc around waist height in a cleaving motion, however Pyrrha caught the weapon on her shield, then swept Ruby's feet from under her and pointed the tip of Milo at Ruby's throat, ending the fight.

Pyrrha looked down at her friend, her fierce combat expression slowly returning to her polite, kind expression. Putting her weapons away from Ruby and shifting Milo back into its sword form, Pyrrha placed her weapons on her back then offered a hand to Ruby, who pulled herself up with the proffered hand. Ruby looked at the champion fighter with light smile, and gave her a handshake. Moving a bit closer, Ruby whispered quietly to Pyrrha.

"Thank you for that." Ruby said, before the two dropped the handshake. Professor Goodwitch came over to the two.

"Now students, that was a fine example of a fight, with both skill and unpredictability to test a fighter's abilities. Miss Rosline, while I must commend you for your unexpected menuover in dropping your weapon to give you a possible edge, keep in mind that, as Miss Nikos did, some opponents have other tools to use as weapons. Try to use such risky techniques when you can easily acquire your own weapon while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Also, you may wish to consider methods that prevent you from being kept in one place, such as what happened when Miss Nikos kept you from moving with gunfire." Professor Goodwitch said to Ruby, who merely stood there and listened.

"Miss Nikos, you perform exemplary once again, however you might wish to practise finer methods of unarmed combat should such an occurrence happen and you find yourself without your primary weapon. As well, take care in ensuring that you don't leave any part of yourself vulnerable to ranged attacks, as they can be as debilitating as any other." Professor Goodwitch said finishing her criticism. The two girls nodded, Pyrrha more obviously than Ruby. The bell went for the end of class, and the two made to leave. Pyrrha looked to her friend, who seemed to return somewhat to her cathartic state.

"Ruby, I know it's probably not my place to ask, but are you alright? Jaune and I are concerned with how you have been recently, and Weiss has shared that she has had some concerns as well. We are here if you want to talk to someone." Pyrrha ask kindly, trying to see if Ruby will react positively.

Ruby let out a sigh, before looking at Pyrrha. "I've had a rough few days, with a lot of personal issues going on. I really feel like I need to have a talk with someone, but what's going on isn't something that I want to talk about with anyone. It's nothing wrong inherently, but still." Ruby said to Pyrrha, who nodded.

"Well, Jaune and I are more than willing to hear you out. He told me about how you gave him advice before what happened at Forever Fall, and we are both willing to hear anything you need to say out privately, besides, you know about Jaune as well so it's not like we'd choose to betray your trust." Pyrrha reassures to Ruby, who looks down, before nodding.

"Ok, I think about it." Ruby said, before walking off to join her team. As Pyrrha proceeded to walked over to her own team, she noticed those two that had been sitting behind RWBY to still be sitting there, talking about something.

Probably amazed at Ruby's performance against her.

* * *

 _"What the hell was that about?" Mercury said to Emerald, who shrugged._

 _"I don't know. Maybe Red Riding Hood just wanted to get into a fight?" Emerald replied, to which Mercury scowled._

 _"Sure, maybe, but who knows when I'll get a good shot at fighting Nikos now?" the grey haired boy said, to which he's green haired companioned shrugged._

 _"No matter, we'll just have to let Cinder know you didn't get the chance." Emerald said. The two got up and left, Pyrrha Nikos in front of them a bit._

 _"I hate it when I miss out on fun learning."_

* * *

Ruby and Blake had been sat down by their teammates to discuss the issues going on. Ruby continued to watch as Yang and Weiss tried to convince Blake to start taking it easy. The faunus weakly tried to defend her actions, but ultimately gave up.

"So then, what do you think?" Yang asked nicely, hoping for her partner to agree.

"I think...this is a complete waste of time." Blake said, getting up and moving to leave the room. Ruby let out a deep, annoyed and frustrated sigh, as Blake went to open the door. "I'll be at the libra-"

"Blake Belladonna, sit the fuck down and be a mature adult for once in your miserable life." Ruby suddenly interjected, her voice being one of cold, barely restrained anger. Blake suddenly stopped and looked back at Ruby, as did Yang and Weiss. Ruby had been hard on them when Blake and Weiss had their fight, but hearing and seeing Ruby say and act as she just did had made them all falter for a moment in disbelief in their leader's action. Blake looked at Ruby, and Ruby glared back, before gesturing to Blake's bed. The former terrorist moved back to her bed, still shocked at Ruby's abnormal reaction.

"I am currently having a crisis as my own life has just been flipped on its head. I am currently questioning my own very life, and who can I even believe and trust anymore. Things that none of you can comprehend are happening to me, and here you are, complaining once again that no one else can do anything, and that the stupid ex-terrorist Blake fucking Belladonna has to work it out on her own, because despite the police, despite the huntsmen, despite people like Ozpin, despite the damn General of Atlas being here, YOU are somehow the only one that is doing anything. Have you actually learned anything we didn't already know? Have you made some grand discovery, that will solve everything? Have you worked out the way to beating the Fang and their Leader? Did you discover where they are South-East of Vale? Have you actually learned ANYTHING?!" Ruby shouts angrily at Blake, who can't help but shake her head at Ruby's questions. "THEN WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS APPROPRIATE TO CONTINUE WORKING YOURSELF TO THE BONE AND TAKING WEISS AND YANG'S CONCERN FOR FUCKING GRANTED?! YOU NEED TO RELAX AND ALLOW YOURSELF TO REFRESH, BUT YOU STUBBORNLY REFUSE BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN FUCKING PRIDE! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT WANTS TO LEARN WHAT'S GOING ON, BUT YOU DON'T SEE US KILLING OURSELVES OVER IT!?" Ruby vividly _**screams**_ into Blake's face, who tries her best to look defiant, but in the face of Ruby's fury pales in comparison. A moment passes as Ruby gets up and walks over to the door, letting her head rest against it, her team looking at their leader with concern. A few moments pass, before Yang gets up and moves over to Ruby.

"Ruby...are you alri-?" Yang tries to ask before Ruby suddenly turns around to face her team, her eyes red and starting to tear up slightly.

"Just stop." Ruby says, walking back over to Blake, ignoring Yang. "Just stop. Stop trying to solve every little problem that you can't solve alone. Stop trying to prove yourself and be some hero that beats bad guys and saves the damn day. You might help, but you'll end up killing yourself trying to do the right thing, or losing what's close to you in the process. Just step back, and think: Am I actually doing anything that will help, or am I wasting my time on something that has the chance to help a slight bit. Because, I doubt you will find anything, and anything that you do find will not be worth it in the end, because you'll be too wasted to make use of it. Just...sit back, take the time to acknowledge if this will actually help, and will the help be worth the pain and repercussions." Ruby quietly said, but the silence makes the small girl's low voice sound louder than any shouting.

With Ruby having said her piece, the red reaper proceeded to get up, her eyes starting to properly leak tears, and heads to the door, opening it and leaving without a word. Silence reigned supreme in the RWBY dorm. A few seconds later, the door opened up to Jaune looking in, a guitar in his hand. "Uh...does anyone want to say what that was about?" The blond man asked them.

Yang looked at him, "Jaune, can you do me a favor? If you see Ruby, can you ask her what's wrong?" Yang asked, her voice filled with concern. The leader of JNPR nodded, before closing the door and leaving. Weiss and Yang looked at each other, then at Blake, who seemed pretty shaken up. "So, I hope you'll reconsider what we asked Blake. I know I would." Yang said to her partner without a tone of humour in her voice. Blake sat there, looking down at her legs, and nodded.

Weiss looked at Yang, then whispered to the brawler, "I hope you have something to help me help Ruby, like she said, she's has had happen something massive in her life." Yang nodded to the heiress.

"I have something in mind, I'll let you know if I need anything." Yang says before looking over at Blake, who is lying on her bed, back facing the two of them. "Can you make sure she doesn't do anything crazy? I need to go punch something." Yang muttered to Weiss, who nodded in confirmation. Yang proceeded to walk out the door, leaving the faunus and the Schnee to their devices.

* * *

 ** _The Following Day_**

Ruby hadn't returned from last night, and didn't respond to any calls or texts. While they didn't have any classes today, Weiss and Yang had been setting up the hall for the dance, and Blake went with them, having finally agreed to go to the dance and listen to what they had asked, and Ruby had said.

While Yang and Weiss had been setting up the hall, Blake had been sitting down at a table when Sun and Neptune came in.

"Hey guys, Blake. Did you decide to come to the dance?" Sun asked the cat faunus, who nodded before Yang and Weiss came over.

"Yes I am. You know Sun, I'm sorry about yesterday, I was being unfair to you, and Ruby put me back in order, so if that offer to go to the dance is still available...? Blake asked, however Sun merely smiled and nodded.

"Oh, sure Blake, it's ok, if you want to, let's do it." Sun confirmed to her, which both Faunus smiled in relief.

"So, what are you two wearing for the dance?" Weiss asked, to which Sun looked at her like she asked an obvious question.

"Uh, this? Duh." Sun pointed at his regular clothes, "What else would I wear? I may have moved to Mistral, but I was raised in Vacuo." The monkey proudly announced before being cut off by Neptune for being an uncultured idiot. Blake looked at him amused.

"I hope you come in something nice if you want to take me to the dance." She said looking at Sun, who suddenly did a 180 in decisions.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, I've got something in mind, I definitely won't come in this." Sun declared, much to everyone's amusement. Then Sun noticed something about the girls in front of him. "Hang on, where's Ruby at? She here to or busy, cause I saw her going out to the Emerald Forest this morning at like, 6AM." Sun asked.

"About that...when we were talking to Blake, she...kinda had a blowout and lost her shit at Blake." Yang discreetly said to Sun as Blake looked away guiltily. Sun looked at Yang in disbelief. There was no way someone as nice and well-mannered as Ruby would get angry so much. The look on Weiss and Yang's faces claimed otherwise, and Sun soon rethought than if this was the reaction his disbelief was getting. Yang spoke up suddenly, "Where about was she when you saw her? Any idea where she was heading to?"

Sun thought about it for a moment. "She was...heading in the direction of that giant cliff overlooking the forest, the one with the ruins." Sun said to Yang, who nodded in confirmation.

"Thanks Sun. Hey, do you mind doing me a favor and giving us a hand with this, as well as your opinions? Because I was thinking about having smoke machines and Weiss really doesn't want them..."

* * *

Ruby found herself overlooking the cliff she killed the Nevermore. While her tears had long since dried up, her decisions had likely costed her too much. And they had all been for someone else's sake.

Ruby was having a crisis alright. She didn't know what to know or who to trust. Was Roman hiding anything else from her? Was Neo? Had the two only looked after her on a whim? Or did they have nothing else to hide, and had looked after her out of the kindness of their hearts? Ruby shook her head at her ridiculous thoughts. Of course Roman loved her, and so did Neo, they were her family. They had raised her as well as they could and did what they could for her. But what Roman had revealed to her was shaking the very foundations of her self being.

Ruby Rose. Daughter of Summer Rose.

That's all Roman and her had come to, and while Ruby knew it was be simple to learn more, it would lead to consequences and revelations of her relationship with Roman and Neo. And while this revelation was trying it's best to destabilise her beliefs, Ruby knew the better. Roman was her dad, he looked after her. Neo was her sister, she cared for her. The things they taught her, while dishonest and morally bad, were still in the best of intentions. Nothing was going to change that. But still, learning her mother's name? Her surname? It was chewing at Ruby. She wanted to admit the truth to Ozpin, to learn what had happened to her mother, why she had died in some alley in Vale. But to do so would betray her family, the one that let her live and cared for her more than could be said for any other. And it would let Cinder destroy her and those closest to her in some game that they had no reason to be part of. But still, no matter how much she wanted to shake it, Ruby just couldn't avoid it coming to her.

Then what she learned from Qrow. About Neo...

It made sense, Neo had known Qrow and Raven, they had looked after her much Ruby had been looked after by Roman and Neo. They taught her from their beliefs, to grow and survive, yet when things turned bad, Neo ran, and ran too far that she lost the ones that once looked after her. It explain how Neo was such a good fighter, it explained how she survived so long until she met Roman, it explained her expertise in swords, it explained how she had once known so much about using a scythe and how she instructed Ruby with how to us her own, hell she had probably trained with one under Qrow's tutorage like she currently was! But still, with such revelation after learning about Summer...it really caused her to start to crack. She was ashamed of herself that she lost it at Blake, that she couldn't keep herself restrained at Blake's foolishness.

Before Ruby could think on it further, a person sat down next to her. Nothing was said, nothing was done. A few moments passed, and the person picked up something and started doing something on the ground, likely drawing.

"When I was born, my biological mother, as we know, Raven, left me and my dad. He was broken by it as she had left with little to no explanation, or so I am told. A few years later, my dad remarried, and for a few years, life had been good. Unfortunately, she died one night without explanation, and my dad's depression began anew. I was forced to mostly look after myself, with some income and help from Uncle Qrow as the only thing keeping us going. After some time, I found a picture of a cabin somewhere with Raven's name on it, as well as an address for the place. One night, I looked the place up, packed a bag and left, looking for my mother, it took me some time to find the place, alone and weak on the road to someplace I didn't know what could be. All I knew, was that it was connected to my Mother. So I pressed on, alone thinking I could get there by myself. And eventually I got there, but the house was ruined, and no one had clearly been there for years. I felt like a failure and disappointment. Before I knew it I was surrounded by Beowolves and I had no hope to escape. One dumb girl all alone, all because she could bring herself to seek help. However, as luck had it, Uncle Qrow had followed me, and saved me from those Grimm. I wouldn't be here if not for him, and I came to realise, that as strong as you might think you are, sometimes, you just need to talk, and seek help from others when I had a problem I couldn't solve on my own."

Yang looked over from her recreation of her uncle's personal emblem, to her teammate, friend and leader, who was looking at her, her eyes tearing slightly.

"I'm sorry Yang, it's just I can't..." Ruby couldn't find anymore words and pulled Yang into a tight hug, the blond girl replicating the same thing a multicoloured girl had once did mere days ago.

"If you can't then don't, but we are here to help you, not matter what." Yang reassured her. The two sat there awhile longer, before Yang gently pulled the smaller girl up. "Come on, we have a dance tomorrow, let's get set up for that." Yang said kindly to her cry, young leader.

And thus, the two began walking away as the sun started sink over the horizon.

* * *

 ** _Well, that's that, time to procrastinate for 6 months._** _ **Jk, but seriously, I hope you all have had a fantastic year, and Merry Christmas to those that do it. Like I said, you'll either love this chapter, or you'll want to kick me in the teeth for it.**_

 _ **A**_ _ **Present from Me to all of you, regardless**_

 _ **As always, any advice or helpful criticism is always**_ ** _appreciated, AD_**


	14. Chapter 14: Ruby's Dance Routine

_**Sorry about the delay, my thanks to you all for being**_ ** _understanding about my laptop croaking it, not to mention school starting for the year and having to reinstall my everything. I had planned on writing the next chapter a few days prior to my old laptop breaking too._**

 ** _It makes me feel shitty because as fanfiction reader myself, I know how it feels when a writer doesn't upload for a while. That said I'll always go and let you all know when I have an issue delaying chapters because you all deserve to know._**

 _ **A quick question: Do you all want me to continue to make chapters like this or shorter ones as to be more regular? I mightn't change regardless, but I'd like some opinions.**_

 ** _Now with that out of the way, on with the story._**

* * *

Ruby had problems, and Yang didn't know if she could fix them by herself.

Having escorted the younger girl back to their dorm and put her to bed, Yang had laid on her bed, trying to come up with what could make her team's unusual leader so...unusual.

Trying to work out why an unusual person is being unusual? Sounds fun as can be.

In all seriousness now, the situation with Ruby would require delicacy, and unfortunately Yang is not very delicate. Maybe a more direct approach might offer faster results, but it could drive a wedge between them that might be worse for Ruby. Yang looked across the dorm and at the diminutive girl that was Ruby Rosline. The girl's tears were still there, and some fresher ones continued to appear every so often. Yang sighed and returned her gaze to the ceiling. She had all of tomorrow to work out Ruby's problems before the school dance started that evening, hopefully they could work something out.

Sometime later, Blake and Weiss wondered into the room mid-conversation and noticed Ruby and Yang, the older of the two slowly raised a finger to her lips to silence the two's conversation before pointing out the door. The other members of RWBY got the message and walked back out while Yang quietly jumped down and went outside with them.

"I found her out at the cliffs, just like Sun said." Yang explained to Blake and Weiss, before quickly continuing before the inevitable question came. "No, she wasn't going to jump, she was just sitting there." The two nodded in relief. "I went to her, sat down, had a bit of a life talk to her, she cried into my shoulder, I brought her back here." Yang wrapped up, before looking over at her teammates. "So, what's the plan?" She asked them. Weiss put a thoughtful hand to her mouth, while Blake looked in at Ruby, concern and perhaps a slight fear in her expression, either for the girl or because of the girl that was their team leader. After no one could think of anything, Weiss shrugged and looked at the two.

"I suppose we should sleep on it and spend the free day tomorrow handling this situation with Ruby before the dance starts. Perhaps she'll come to us and we can avoid all of this." Weiss reasoned. Yang and Blake conceded her point, and with no reason to remain outside, the three went back into their dorm, Weiss sitting down at their desk to finish writing a letter, Blake grabbed a book and lied down on her bed while Yang resumed her relaxing. A few hours later, the girls would get changed for bed and let sleep consume them.

After all, tomorrow's another day.

* * *

 _Ruby was running through the streets of Vale with her pursuers on her heel and her weapon lost. Her cloak billowed behind her and the red clothed object in her arms weighing her down. She jumped over a fence and ran into a dark alley behind a nightclub. She was about to pause when a dark object sped at her and stabbed at her._

 _She fell to the ground in sudden pain, while something came out from the darkness. A man, no...a Faunus, that scorpion tail clearly being the weapon that just attacked her. He went to open his mouth, probably to gloat at her predicament. She looked at him with fear, then a bright light blinded her and-_

Ruby felt her eyes open slowly, her silver eyes moist and sticky. After a little effort, Ruby managed to fully open her eyes, despite still being blurry due to sleep and the tears that had finished falling.

What had that been? Ruby had no idea what that dream was meant to be. Was it a dream? A nightmare? But it had seemed so...real...

Shake her head slowly and sniffling slightly, Ruby got up and walked over to the adjacent bathroom, bring her scroll in with her. Ruby attempted to turn the device on but found it out of power. Sighing quietly to herself, the young girl proceeded to charge her scroll. Waiting for that to finish, Ruby got out of her rather smelly clothes she had been wearing since her duel with Pyrrha and got into the shower. Warm water soon flowed over her and Ruby took the time to relax and forget about the things that were messing her life around. After what seemed like no time at all, her scroll went off and she proceeded to finish her shower.

After some time drying herself off and making herself semi-presentable, Ruby walked out of the bathroom with her towel around her. Getting some spare clothes out, she proceeded to return to the bathroom to change in private.

Grabbing her scroll, she found a missing message from Yang, which was dated before the older girl found her, and another from Roman. Opening said message, the thief she called Dad had simply asked her to take her time to come to understanding with this and he would be going out of the kingdom briefly, but not to forget why she was at Beacon in the process. Sighing to herself, she turned her scroll off and walked out once more. Weiss and Yang were still asleep, but Blake looked over at the younger girl.

"Hey Ruby..." Blake said quietly as to not disturb their teammates. Ruby nodded at her teammate and walked over to her.

"Blake, I am so, so sorry how I acted yesterday. It was uncalled for and far too out of line for me to-" Ruby started to apologise profusely, but Blake merely shook her head.

"It's fine Ruby. I...kinda deserved it. You were right. I was taking you all for granted and wasting myself away too focused on something that I can't do alone. Weiss took me aside afterwards and we talked about how many problems it was making. I...promised to her, and Yang, and now to you, that I won't do this again, not without you guys to help me." The Belladonna looked at her relieved team leader. "But...Ruby...we REALLY need to talk about your problem before we go on our first official missions." Ruby's eyes widened. How could she forget about that!? Loss of team cohesion would make their mission so much harder, and it's likely that her team would won't to try and investigate South-East of Vale. Ruby mentally frowned when she realised that Roman hadn't explained what was going on in the south east.

"Look, Blake..." Ruby started, not sure how to continue. "It's...personal. And it's something I have to do alone, none of you can get involved, because that will just make things worse." Ruby tried to explain, however before Blake could reply a voice came from behind them.

"Well, just because we can't get involved, doesn't mean you can't tell us. We are a team and we need rely on each other if we want to succeed at being Huntresses and people." Weiss said, stretching her arms behind her as the heiress got up with a yawn. Ruby looked over at her partner, and noticed Yang too was also waking up.

"You said something about your family. Something that was 'flipping your life upside down'. You need to talk to us, let us help you. I know you said you grew up mostly alone, but now you have us. We are your friends and we want to help you, only if you let us. You saw what happened with Blake," Blake bristled at Weiss's comment, but didn't deny it. "And if we can't let you do the same as her. SO, for the sake of the team and as your friend, I ask you Ruby Rosline, what is your problem." Weiss asked with a lot less flair as she had with Blake the previous day.

Ruby looked at her partner. Sometimes, Ruby was too nice for her own good. She should tell them, let them know she wasn't who they thought she was.

But if she did, she would be chased out, and her family would be at risk, more than ever.

But at the same time, she was putting her team at risk. She might have come to Beacon for a different purpose, but she couldn't deny, these girls had become like another family to the criminal teen.

But if she did reveal the truth, how would they react to Cinder and her minions? Would chasing them out of Beacon thinking that would solve things or make them worse?

Ruby had to say something, but what could she say? Thankfully, her solution came for her instead.

"Ok, first of all, I do not want to be having life talks so early in the morning. We have all day for this, and I'm not the only one that can tell she doesn't want to say. So Ruby, let's make a deal." Yang announced to the team, who looked at the blond brawler with confused looks. "Simple: Ruby, you have to tell us the problem, but you can wait until you are comfortable. However; you must go to the dance, and you MUST tell us some time before the Vytal Festival starts. Deal?" Yang's words hung in the air for a moment.

"Ok, deal." Ruby agreed. Everyone noticeably relaxed and a peaceful quiet filled the air.

* * *

 _ **That Evening...**_

Ruby was used to social gatherings. Or at least watching from afar.

While she had promised that she would show, she would be a little late. After all, a party where most the faculty, student base and security would be roaming around? That is the kind of time where Roman would have her and Neo sneak around to find ways into reach people's homes and steal their valuables.

So, on that vein of thought, it would also serve as a perfect time for someone like Cinder to do something underhanded. Or maybe Ruby was wasting her time, after all, she can't intervene too much really or risk giving herself away.

Shrugging to herself, Ruby poked her scroll a few times, making the cameras in key locations set to alert her to unusual patterns of activity. Honestly, Atlas' toys are so much fun to play with.

Placing her scroll away, Ruby slid her feet into a pair of heels, much to her annoyance, they were fashionable and the only suitable shoes for a dance like this, not to mention she'd stand out if she just go in her hood. Even if she really would prefer to go in her hood. Getting up, Ruby walk/stumbled around for a brief moment, trying to get a feel for the shoes. After a few attempts of moderate success, Ruby shrugs and manages to walk out the door.

A few minutes later, the red reaper finds herself outside the hall that they were hosting the school dance in. Noticing Blake lead Sun in, a small smile graces Ruby's face before she follows. Waving at Weiss, she proceeds to head over to the punch and get a drink.

As Ruby stands back and watches, she notices that Cinder isn't present, neither of her goons were either. Taking a glance at her scroll, she jumps in surprise as a hand briefly lands on her shoulder.

"Good Evening Miss Rosline. I hope your enjoying the party you're teammates have wonderfully arranged for us?" Headmaster Ozpin asks Ruby, who nods after her brief surprise wears off.

"Uh, yeah, it's interesting. Different from what I'm used to at least." Ruby says to the Headmaster. Ozpin looks at her for a moment.

"I hope this gets helps get your mind off whatever issues you might be having personally." He says to the little girl. Ruby looks at him with an accusing look. "I have heard from some of you teachers, as well as overheard your teammates mention some mystery problems you have. While I can't force you to divulge them, remember you have the support of your team, as well as your friends and professors in case you feel like you are in over your head. You are only one person and sometimes, all you need is someone to have you back." Ruby nods at his remarks but says nothing. "Well Miss Rosline, I do hope you enjoy yourself, it's nights like these that will withstand the test of time and remain with you until the end of your days." Ozpin says with a hint of melancholy before beginning to walk off. He pauses briefly and turns back to the Reaper in Red. "Also, could you do me a favour and ensure Miss Xiao Long's uncle doesn't try and spike the punch? He tries every year he's here and Miss Goodwitch would certainly appreciate the help." With his final piece said, the Headmaster of Beacon finally leaves.

As if sensing his name being said, her mentor arrives as soon as the Headmaster has left, taking a swig from his hip-flask.

"Hey kiddo, you're not going to rattle on me if I spike this right?" Qrow asks his apprentice, who shakes her head with a devious smile.

"Nope, no problem at all." Ruby says. Qrow smirks and pulls a second flask out from under his cloak, still wearing his usual clothes if a little less messily. Nodding his thanks, Qrow wonders off in the direction of General Ironwood, who appears to be conversing with Miss Goodwitch and watching Penny. Waving at her friend, Ruby notices a solemn Jaune walk over to her and take a glass of punch, unaware of its tampering.

"Hey Jaune." Ruby says briefly to her fellow team leader.

"Hey Ruby, hiding near the punch bowel too?" Jaune asks in a tired voice. Ruby shrugs. "To the people that avoiding being social?" Jaune proposes, to which Ruby clinks her drink glass against. The blond takes a drink before letting out a cough. "Damn, that's pretty strong..." he remarks while Ruby smirks.

"I'm sorry Weiss refused to come with you." Ruby said after a moment.

"Eh, that's how it turned out. I guess Neptune's was lucky enough to get her to come with her." Jaune remarked. Ruby frowned slightly. She distinctly remembered Weiss saying she was going alone that afternoon, and she didn't see her interact with anyone like such.

"Uh, Jaune? Weiss came alone. Said she was too busy organising the dance to bother." Ruby told her friend, who frowned in confusion. The two looked over at Neptune, who currently was joking about with Sun and Blake doing some kind of Zombie impression or something. Jaune let out an angry growl, before holding out his drink.

"Hold my punch..." JNPR's fearless leader said before wondering off. Ruby watched as we started walking over to the trio, before having his attention drawn away to Pyrrha. Ruby look at the two partners, before putting both her and Jaune's drinks down.

Waiting for Cinder could wait for a little, this ought to be interesting, and most certainly entertaining.

Ruby started following the two, before accidentally walking into Yang. "Oof, sorry Yang." Ruby said with a grunt.

"S'all good, enjoying yourself Ruby?" Yang asked to Ruby indifferent shrug.

"Eh, I guess, kinda not my thing, but still enjoyable." Ruby said to Yang before looking behind her taller teammate. Yang followed her look at the two JNPR members, then looked back at Ruby. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruby asked.

"I think I am." Yang said with a Neo approved smile. The two walked through the crowd and made their way up the stairs towards the balcony. When they arrived, Pyrrha walked past them, looking down with a sad expression, as they watched Neptune and Jaune talk. After some time, the two seemed to finish talking and Neptune left. Before Jaune could leave, the two girls jumped him.

"Come on Vomit Boy, what were you doing with Pyrrha? Hmm?" Yang said while Ruby smirked at him. Jaune flustered and tried to say something before Ruby continued.

"Jaune, you're my friend, and I know you mean the best, buuuut, you need to go down there and get Pyrrha, then do the most obvious think only you could overlook." Ruby said much to Jaune's confused expression.

"Uh... I...er...you mean... what?" He mumbled in confusion. Yang facepalmed and Ruby sighed.

"Ask her out to the DANCE!" Yang all but shouted at him. Jaune, apparently getting the message, nodded before realising something.

"OK! ... You know I was about to do that anyway right?" He said, causing the two girls to flinch and look away embarrassed

Let it be known, Ruby may have been an expert thief, but never did she say she was good socially.

* * *

When Jaune had said he was going ahead with asking Pyrrha to dance, this was not what Ruby had in mind. Hell, even Yang wouldn't have been able to come up with something so random and strange on a whim.

But it was so damn funny and cute watching the team of what might turn out as two separate couples dancing away without a care in the world. From her vantage point on the upper level, Ruby had a clear view of everyone and everything. From JNPR's hilarious sudden dance routine, to Neptune chatting with Weiss, Sun and Blake dancing off to the side while Yang spectated with a satisfied look; all was right in the world.

Well, asides from the fact Cinder was still a no show.

Emerald and Mercury had shown up, Ruby looked over to the pair as they too observed from above the dance floor, but their boss still wasn't present. The two seemingly conversed, though Ruby was too far to hear what was being said. They glanced out a window briefly, drawing Ruby's attention outside. A shadowy figure was crouched on one of the nearby dorm blocks, after a brief moment, the figure started moving.

Seems like Cinder's pets hadn't been as flawless as they thought they had.

Ruby slipped out the window as the two began making their way down to the dance floor. Landing on the ground with a thud, muted by the music in the building behind her, Ruby ran with her semblance, quickly catching up with the figure who was likely Cinder.

Cinder jumped off the rooftop, and run behind a pillar, watching the Atlesian soldier standing guard outside the CCT. Now what did she want with the CCT?

Cinder quickly snuck past the soldier and proceeded to knock him out. Ruby watched from her vantage point as the women went to town on the soldiers inside. Running inside before anyone could notice, this time without her semblance (who would ignore rose petals in a building late at night?), Ruby quickly jumped into an elevator, thumbing the up button. The only thing of value for a criminal like Cinder here would be the control setup for the CCT, and Ruby would be honestly surprised if she didn't have anything to do with it. Arriving at the top, Ruby quickly got out and looked around. The place was eerily quiet at night, and for some reason no security was present. Had Cinder known this will be the best time to attack? A nearby elevator dinged, signalling it's arrival. Ruby jumped behind a desk right as the door opened, admitting a one Cinder Fall into the room.

The women, dressed in black clothes and a masquerade mask, walked past Ruby's hiding spot and over to the central computers. Ruby watched as Cinder inserted something into the computer and began typing. A few seconds later, Ruby heard a faint voice, followed by Cinder sighing.

"Which one?" Cinder said, the annoyance clear in her voice. A reply came through that made Cinder frown briefly. Before she replied however, the terminals Ruby was next to suddenly flared white with a black chess Queen on it. Ruby looked around, noticing all the terminals present also repeated the same action, before turning off once more. Cinder got up, "No, we're done here" she said in a devious, light-hearted tone. Cinder began walking away towards the elevator. Ruby got up, walking silently over to the central computer, when she suddenly slipped on her heel, almost tripping over. Ruby quickly recovered and dove behind the main desk. While she didn't make too much noise, Cinder clearly heard something behind her. Ruby's eyes widened as the footsteps stopped, before started again, coming closer to her position. Ruby pushed herself underneath the desk, praying that Cinder didn't think to check it first.

A second passed, then another, and another. The footsteps getting closer.

Ruby had messed up big time. She wasn't some guard that knew nothing other than someone broke into the CCT, Cinder would have known Ruby knew what she had just done. And Cinder was no law-abiding citizen. Ruby was a problem and threat if she was caught.

And everyone knows what happens to those that are a threat to someone.

Black hair slowly came into Ruby's vision as the older women slowly walked around the side of the desk. Her only hope was Cinder didn't look. Ruby closed her eyes, hoping that Roman didn't blame himself for what was going to happen.

Cinder's head suddenly whipped in Ruby's direction, however the fire wielder suddenly back flipped as a large bullet flew where Cinder's head had been. Ruby crawled out from her hiding spot, running over to the desks to the left. Popping her head out Ruby watched as General Ironwood blocked a row of ice dust crystals with his arm. The general fired his weapon, a large revolver, at Cinder, who deflected the round with twin blades, but was knocked back a few feet. She threw her weapons at the general, who shot one out of the air, the sword crumbling to dust, and dodged the other, which smash upon impact behind him. The General threw a small cylinder at Cinder, who drew a bow and shot it out of the air. However, a sudden blinding light and a loud bang blinded Ruby, who fell back behind her. As Ruby's hearing cleared, she heard glass shattering as someone ran past her. Ruby's sight returned to her silver eyes shortly, and which the first thing she saw as the concerned face of the Atlesian General.

"Miss? Are you OK? Are you injured?" He asked her, his weapon still trained on the broken window behind him. Ruby nodded quickly, her hearing still a bit muted, but able to hear the man's words. "My apologises for the grenade, I didn't notice you were there until you fell out of cover." Ironwood apologised, Ruby shrugging in disregard.

"Ugh, it's fine sir, just a little hard to hear and see is all." Ruby said, rubbing her eyes as the General helped her up. "What happened after you threw that grenade?" Ruby asked, curious as the what happened.

"I think I should be asking the questions, Miss...?" Ironwood asked with polite authority.

"Ruby Rosline." Ruby said briefly. Ironwood's brow creased for a moment before he looked at her with sudden revelation.

"Ah, Qrow's apprentice, I believe?" He said to which Ruby nodded. Wait, so did he know Qrow? How?

"Hey Jimmy, mind giving my student back before she starts wearing a uniform and getting a stick." A voice came from them, causing the General to sigh.

Speaking of the devil, Qrow walked up, his weapon in his hand. Ironwood turned around to face the man behind them, his expression betraying his annoyance. "Qrow, in case you didn't realise, someone just infiltrated the CCT. So, I think it would be in our best interest to capture them!" Qrow looked at Ironwood with a smug grin.

"I would love to, but your boys chased her into a building next to the dance. Probably going to lose them there." Qrow explained, briefly looking over at Ruby. "Hey kiddo, you ok?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, just about." Ironwood looked between the two before sighing again.

The general looked at the huntsman, "Qrow, can you go and get Ozpin and Glynda so we can have a proper talk about what happened here with Miss Rosline?" Ironwood asked. Qrow shrugged at walked past them into the elevator. It's doors closed as the huntsman took a swig of his drink.

Hang on, how did he get up here without either of them noticing?

* * *

 _Cinder looked at Mercury, annoyance clear in her eyes._

 _"So, how'd it go?" The silver haired assassin asked. Cinder frowned._

 _"It was not ideal. However, I doubt anyone expects anything." Cinder said. The raven-haired woman was furious at her misfortune, even if the virus was in place. Getting the General of Atlas involved then had not been the plan._

 _And while she wasn't certain who, someone else had been there._

 _Investigation would be in order. She couldn't afford to have loose ends and fail her mission and destiny._

 _Salem wouldn't allow it, and neither would she._

 _Not when she, Cinder Fall, was this close._

* * *

It took the headmaster and combat teacher some time to arrive, though it was probably just Qrow being lazy Ruby guessed.

While waiting, Ironwood had taken the time to ask questions about herself, Ruby respectfully answering them with her same batch of lies that she had feed to basically everything since arriving at Beacon Academy. However, before Ironwood could ask about how she had managed to live as an orphan and possible cause a crack in the image Ruby had manage to make for him, her teachers arrived.

"Ah, Miss Rosline, I glad to see you're alright." Professor Goodwitch said, quickly walking over to the pair currently seated next to window Cinder had escaped through. Ozpin observed their surroundings quietly, but didn't comment.

"She's perfectly fine Glynda, I fought the infiltrator and drew their attention away from her." Ironwood explained to the concerned teacher, who nodded in thanks to the military leader. Ironwood got up and faced Ozpin, before pulling off to the side, out of hearing. Ruby went to get up, however Miss Goodwitch gestured for the younger girl to stay seated. The Professor sat down next to Ruby, looking at the 15-year-old with a curious look.

"Miss Rosline, what were you doing here? Qrow told me he saw you leave the party early, quickly in fact. Not to mention, why did you come here?" Goodwitch asked quietly, looking down out the window. Ruby's gaze followed her teachers, to the soldiers outside trying to work out what had happened and why exactly. Ruby took a moment to think of what to say. Surely, she could tell the basic truth? After all, it was rather believable.

"I noticed someone on the roof of the dorm east of the dance hall. They started running across towards the CCT, so I decided to take a look since it was pretty suspicious. I followed them discreetly and watched them break into the CCT. As they were fighting with the General's soldiers, I took a gamble and went up here, seeing how the only interesting piece of equipment is up here. I got up here and hid, and sure enough, the person came up here..." Ruby paused briefly, considering what to say. She had to say something but couldn't take too long. Perhaps she could take advantage of the things her team had learned at the White Fang meeting and mess up Cinder's plans? After all, that's what she wanted right?

The brief thought of Roman and Neo made a string twang in Ruby's heart.

"I overheard them mention something in the south east of Vale, some kind of hideout. They put something into the system, then went to leave. I tried to get a look at what from the central computer, but almost tripped on these damn heels..." Ruby finished with scowl at her current footwear. Professor Goodwitch gave the girl a sympathetic smile. Ruby continued her story, "So they heard me, and I took cover under the desk. They almost caught me, but Mister Ironwood arrived at the right time and managed to make enough of a distraction for me to slip away unnoticed. After that, Mister Ironwood can explain it better than me." Ruby concluded.

Professor Goodwitch nodded briefly, then looked at Ruby. "Well, I'm so very glad you're alright. It was fortunate James arrived when he did, I'd hate myself if you had come to harm while inside the school when I could have prevented it." the teacher said somewhat remorsefully. It reminded Ruby of what Roman had taught her, how Huntsmen and Huntresses were typically too hard on themselves and too selfless for their own good. While Ruby may not have seen it as negatively as Roman did, she could understand his sentiments...

Another moment of sadness came flowing to her.

Enough of that, Ruby had a job to do.

"Can you give me a description of the infiltrator?" Miss Goodwitch asked, having apparently not notice Ruby's short moment of quiet.

Ruby looked up before saying, "Tall, light-skinned, dark-haired and female. That's about it, they were wearing a mask and I couldn't make out any distinguishing marks." Ruby said. Her teacher nodded in confirmation. Off the side, Ozpin and Ironwood's conversation was appearing to finish, the General with a frustrated frown and Ozpin with his face in his hand. The two older gentlemen walked over to the two women, Ozpin gesturing for the two to stand.

"Ruby, I am glad that you are safe and unhurt, however, while you are no longer needed to stay up here, I do ask that you keep what happened here to yourself for now." Ozpin said the student, who nodded and went to leave via elevator. "Also, I might request that you come by my office tomorrow morning so that we can discuss this again, with you own input on the matter." Ruby looked at him mildly confused, but nodded in confirmation. The sight of her teachers and the general disappeared behind the metal doors of the elevator. Sighing to herself, Ruby waited for the elevator to reach bottom floor, the soldiers there let her leave and Ruby made her way back to the dance, Yang noticing her almost immediately.

"Ruby? Where have you been, you disappeared and I've been looking for you, are you ok?" The blond asked her, Ruby shrugging.

"I'll tell you all about it later, I might have gotten us a special mission for our first mission as a team." Ruby said, Yang's eye's widening in surprise and excitement.

"Cool, keep in mind that you still need to tell us about what's wrong." Yang said, causing Ruby to sigh in conflict of anger and sadness.

How could she forget.

Maybe it was about time she visited the man she called her Dad.

* * *

 _ **Well, there you go.**_

 _ **Bit of a shorter chapter than usual, but I have things in mind up next that would be more fitting inside the next chapter then continued from here.**_

 _ **As always, any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD**_


End file.
